Working to bring health supporting foods into our schools

July, 2005

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Message from the Executive Director:
Greetings! It has been a wonderful year meeting so many of you out there at the various conferences and press conferences, PTA meetings, schools, and by telephone and email as well. You might have wondered what happened to us since we first met. 

Our first year has been a whirlwind of activity, as we have been overwhelmed by requests for information, support, and presentations. It’s been difficult to keep up with all of the things we had set out to do in the first place – because we became so busy right away. The overwhelming positive response we have received shows that there is a mandate for healthier school foods, and that feeding children health supporting foods (as well as removing foods that don’t support health and even contribute to disease) is a desire deep in the hearts of people who care about children. While the biggest challenge for food service professionals is the money issue, creativity and the desire for change have shown that it can be done even on limited budgets (however, budgeting more dollars for school foods is an issue that needs to be discussed). Requests have come from students, parents, teachers, food service professionals, school nurses, and more. Thanks to so many of you, without whom, it wouldn’t have been possible.

We have had a year of outstanding success that we could have never imagined when we started out, but we still have so much more to accomplish. Please get involved if you’re not already. We need your dedication, creativity, and passion to achieve what all children deserve – health supporting foods that are fresh, appealing, delicious, local and even organic whenever possible.

One way that you can help is by joining the coalition. For the rest of this year, it’s free, and you can do it by clicking here. It means a lot to us, because more members means we have a bigger voice, and that more people will listen.

Amie Hamlin

Our mission: The New York Coalition for Healthy School Lunches is a grassroots organization advocating for healthy school foods in New York State. We are dedicated to implementing the recommendations of New York State Resolution K1888 (Assembly) and J3971 (Senate) that call for an optional healthy plant-based entrée to be available each day in all schools, nutrition education, replacement of unhealthy ala carte and vending foods and beverages, and encouraging farm to school programs, including organic where possible. We work with state agencies, individual schools, food service professionals, parents, students, educators, health professionals, and other organizations to achieve this goal.


Donate: Membership in the coalition is free for the remainder of this year, however, it does cost money to accomplish our goals. We have achieved remarkable results in just over one year since forming the New York Coalition for Healthy School Lunches (reported below).  If you support our mission, we ask that you consider making as generous a donation as you are able to. Click here to see our funding requests and make a donation.

NYS Legislative Resolution Passes Unanimously!
Our first effort (even before we incorporated as a non-profit) was to write and get introduced a legislative resolution for the New York State Legislature for healthy school foods.

The support for the resolution by Senator Ken LaValle of Long Island and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz of Brooklyn was tremendous, and we were surprised by the quickness with which the whole project was completed! Our diligent efforts paid off, and before we could say “black bean veggie burger and sweet potatoes” the resolution had passed, UNANIMOUSLY! Thank-you to Senator LaValle and Assemblyman Ortiz and staff members.
 

NYS PTA Resolution Passes by
Overwhelming Majority

After the New York State Legislative resolution passed, we went to work on a resolution for the NYS PTA. 

This resolution was voted on at the NYS PTA annual convention in November. It was a very exciting experience. Out of 546 delegates on the voting floor, only a handful voted against it, and so it passed by an overwhelming majority. The PTA resolution basically mirrors the New York State Legislative Resolution and is the NYS PTA official policy and basis for action. 

In addition, we taught a workshop with Antonia Demas, Ph.D., author of the Food is Elementary Curriculum and Director of Food Studies Institute, (pictured on left, with Amie Hamlin, Executive Director of the Coalition the picture above is of the audience.) Dr. Demas is a member of the NYCHSL’s Board of Advisors. We also had a vendor table at the convention (staffed by volunteer high school students Elizabeth and Rebecca Barnett, and Ken McBride.) Subsequently, we wrote an article on the subject for the February issue of the PTA magazine.

Coalition Joins New York State School Food Service Association and Feeds Food Service Directors, Cooks and Cafeteria Staff healthy plant-based entrees at their annual conference! 
 

At this conference, Dave Stroka (pictured with his healthy creations), head chef for the Binghamton City School District generously agreed to prepare three healthy entrees for attendees of the conference to try.

The recipes used are from the Food is Elementary Curriculum by Antonia Demas, Ph.D. They contain no cholesterol, are low-fat, high fiber, and impressively, meet cost guidelines. While the recipes were all well liked, the Three Sister’s Casserole stood out. Why? Because all five ingredients: kidney beans, butternut squash, corn, pure maple syrup, and fresh dill are New York State farm ingredients, and it was delicious!

Thanks to Mark Bordeau, Binghamton City School Food Service Director, and Ray Denniston (pictured on left, with Bill Jordan from NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets), Johnson City School Food Service Director, for helping to make this possible, and a special thanks to Dave – a great cook!

We handed out about 175 recipe packets and fact sheets along with copies of our resolution to food service personnel from around the state so that they could go back to their schools and give the recipes a try. The recipes all contain some USDA commodity ingredients, food items which schools receive for almost no cost from the federal government.

Other Accomplishments:

NYCHSL speaks to 150 Student Council Leaders at their Annual Conference.  

We attended the Saratoga Springs annual conference of Student Council leaders in November, where we encouraged student council leaders to play an active role is asking for healthier foods. We also wrote an article for their Spring 2005 newsletter. 

Annual Holiday Party of the Broome/Tioga Chapters of the New York State School Food Service Association

We attended the New York State School Food Service Association Broome/Tioga Chapter holiday party, where we presented to 100 school food service professionals, representing 6 school districts. Delicious plant-based entrees, sides and desserts were served in addition to the regular fare.

Felix Ortiz Press Conference

We provided support to Assemblyman Ortiz’s effort to get an additional funding for the Obesity Prevention Program. As a result of the press conference, Governor Pataki committed to an additional 1.5 million in funding. 

Office of General Services Survey

The New York State Office of General Services (OGS) is the state department that, in part, orders the commodity foods from the federal government for schools and other programs, and then distributes them to regional warehouses and stores them.

Each year OGS surveys food service directors to find out what they most want. The top foods asked for are beef, cheese, and potato products. Because schools only have to pay a small processing fee for each case of food, it makes more sense for them to get the foods that would cost the most if they had to purchase them.

However, USDA commodity foods do include healthy items such as dried beans, frozen vegetables and fruits, and more. The problem is that many schools do not have the appropriate storage facilities for refrigerated and frozen products, and cooking facilities and staff for homemade foods.

We worked with Jim Walls, and then Tom Osterhout, Director of the program, to ask food service directors to consider the obesity epidemic when filling out their survey requests and ordering, and also to think about it when purchasing foods. In addition, we were able to provide an information sheet that went out with the survey providing information and resources. Included was information on NYCHSL, the importance of education and promotion, the dangers of trans fats, deep fried foods, the increase in fruits, vegetables and whole grains in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and information on food preferences also from the 2005 Dietary Guidelines – including the statement “It is important to incorporate the food preferences of different racial/ethnic groups, vegetarians, and other groups when planning diets and developing educational programs and materials.”

Already, Tom has received feedback that the message and information was appreciated.

Recipe Development

We are working to develop more recipes that are bean and lentil based and kid tested. These recipes will be cost effective and within the guidelines for food costs for schools (about .45 cents per serving!) We look forward to the taste testing! 

Join the Coalition – it’s free!

We hope you’ll agree that our approach to school foods is a fresh way of looking at the obesity and related health problems. You can show your support by joining the coalition – it’s free for the rest of this year!! Click here to join. Please tell your friends, school food service director, and others to join as well, and to sign up for our email list. The more people that join and sign onto our email list, the greater our chances of success are.

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