|
|
|
|
Grant Winners 
Congratulations to the 2008 NYSNC Minigrant Winner!Syracuse University, College of Health and Human Services will implement the “Central New York Refugee Nutrition Education Program." 2007 Wellness Works, a project created by West Carthage Elementary School. 2006 Parent/Child Get Fit and Grow Your Own Food With the funds, the Holy Cross Head Start in Buffalo put a salsa gardens in their four of their full-year classrooms. Each of the classrooms incorporated a variety of garden-related activities into their curriculum. All of the classrooms received copies of stories about planting and food to supplement the salsa garden activities. In addition, Holy Cross involved the students’ parents in the project. They held a parent/child day, where the parents and the children made salsa gardens together to take home. At this event, the families received information about gardening and nutrition. Head Start teamed up with Food For All, an advocacy organization, to provide information to the parents on using Food Stamps to buy seeds and seedlings and to do cooking demonstrations using the vegetables grown in the salsa gardens. For the parents that weren’t able to make the educational event, Head Start sent flyers home on container gardening and recipes using fresh fruits and vegetables. As of result of the project, many families learned that they could use food stamps (EBT) to buy seeds and seedlings. These families are looking forward to growing more food next year. 2005 “Nutrition Detective – Cookshop Enhancement Program” Tanya M. Horacek, PhD, RD, and Julita Klopocka-Niemiec, graduate student, Syracuse University, College of Human Services and Health Professions, Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management The premise of the Nutrition Detective Program is to add a new component to the existing, behaviorally focused, Cookshop classes conducted in four Syracuse elementary schools. It is designed to enhance children’s analytical skills through a series of 10 investigative sessions contributing to the achievement of the following goals:
Sandeep Davuluri, graduate student, Syracuse University “Lion’s Camp Hickory held a diabetes camp for children with type 1 diabetes last summer. As a volunteer nutrition educator, it was clear that the camp needed funding for materials to aid in the nutrition education for youth ages 8-12 for nutrition games, activities for preparing healthy meals and food models to better understand serving sizes…” The goals are to increase their knowledge and understanding about carbohydrates, fats, protein, carbohydrate exchanges, how to choose food wisely, and how to increase intake of fruits and vegetables and increase physical activity. It is a collaboration of Syracuse University and Lion’s Camp Hickory. Educational games will be developed in the spring and pilot-tested. The activities and evaluation will occur in the summer.2004 "Busy Bodies" Busy Bodies is a pre-school program for 3-5 year olds in a structured educational setting. The purpose and objectives are to encourage change in a current sedentary lifestyles and develop a taste for natural, healthy foods for snacks and meals. Through storytelling with puppets, children will discover pleasurable ways to try new foods. The Busy Bodies program uses hands-on activity, along with song and play to promote more physical movement for every child. Our role model is "Buddy Bee," the program mascot who whears sneakers and a pedometer. Buddy Bee has fun playing with his friends in games, play, songs, and dance. Highlights and Accomplishments: Puppet Shows Movin' with the Bee Parent Involvement In Summary: Successes - Of the four stories in the shows, our children said their favorite story was the "Very Hungry Caterpillar." This is a story of the tranistion of a tiny caterpillar who grows into a beautiful butterfly. Props of realistic looking rubber food models were used along with sounds of food being eaten and counting the numbers of foods as the little butterfly "wannabe" ate and grew up to be beautiful. This showed that healthy eating not only takes away hunger, but also contributes to a healthy appearance. In the gym, the fun-filled "Grocery Olympics" had the children pretending to go food shopping, going through hurdles, obstacles, using their body skills to get their groceries home. Many times, the children in the class wanted to go "one more time!" Evaluation: 198 children 11 classrooms 44 puppet shows 132 physical movement classes Total staff project delivery time: 130 hrs Testimonials: "Research continues to support the importance of working with children from a very early age, teaching them about making healthy food choices, exercising their bodies daily and using proper hygiene. The stories that were chosen as well as the puppet show format, dealing with nutrition and food, have mesmerized the children; and the inclusion of Buddy Bee exercising with the children heightened their excitement level. They look forward to each visit." Headstart Director 2003 "Guardino Elementary Children's Garden" The Nutrition Council’s generous grant of $750.00 allowed Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County to enhance a Community Garden in the town of Clayton and expanding it to include a project with the local elementary school. Three hundred twenty students in grades 2, 3, 5 and 6 at Guardino Elementary School received hands-on lessons about plants, soil, fruits and vegetables and nutrition. The number of garden beds was expanded so that the students could be involved. Lumber was purchased to frame distinct rectangular beds. Topsoil was added to the beds to improve the fertility. Seeds were purchased along with mini-greenhouse for starting the seeds indoors in the month of April. Other starter plants were also grown by another group of gardeners and the kids got to put these transplants into the ground also. Strawberries plants were planted on the perimeter of garden. Strawberries are perennial plants that will bloom year after year and are easy fruits to grow in this climate. Fifth grade teacher, Debbie Dermady, spearheaded the organization of the different classroom teachers to get as many children as possible involved in the gardening project. Her enthusiasm and energy helped to make the project work. Odette Butler at Cornell Cooperative Extension began the program with a pep rally where students learned how seeds grow, how to use tools in the garden, and why eating vegetables is important for one’s health. She made the children pledge to taste all of the different vegetables that were harvested. Due to the natural cycles of a garden, the children missed the harvest of certain vegetables over the summer months but volunteers tended the gardens so that the kids could come back in the fall to harvest pumpkins and squash. Many of the summer vegetables were donated to local food banks. Materials for beginning a school garden at the Ohio Street School in Watertown were also purchased. This garden is still under construction and Rosalind Cook at Cornell Cooperative Extension is communicating with the school principal about dates to begin a garden program in 2004. This garden project will attempt to emulate the success of the Guardino school program. There were several measurable results of this project including the number of children who were exposed to the different learning modules on plant science, the importance of plants in the diet, and the necessary work and rewards of caring for vegetables and fruits. The children all recognized more vegetables at the end of the season. They were more interested in sampling them because they had pride of ownership over these particular vegetables. Submitted by Rosalind Cook for Odette Butler |
