WASHINGTON, DC – Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States announced their donation of salad bars to seven D.C. Public Schools in Wards 7 & 8 at an event at Burrville Elementary School in Northeast D.C. Kaiser Permanente’s donation builds on their commitment to improving the health and wellness of children in Wards 7 & 8 communities and supports Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools. The salad bars will benefit 2,300 students by increasing their access to fresh fruits and vegetables at school lunch.
“Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States works with individuals and institutions to transform the way people experience health in neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. Through our partnership with the United Fresh Foundation we are increasing students’ daily access to fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Celeste James, Director of Community Health Initiatives for Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States. “If we want children to practice healthy eating behaviors we need to ensure that healthy options are readily available,” added James.
Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States awarded a Healthy Eating and Active Living grant to the United Fresh Foundation to provide salad bars to seven elementary schools in Wards 7 & 8 including: Burrville, Beers, Nalle, Patterson, Randle Highlands, Kimball and Garfield. The United Fresh Foundation is a founding partner of Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools which supports First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity in a generation.
“Partners like Kaiser Permanente and the United Fresh Foundation are a vital component of the healthy changes underway in America’s schools through First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative,” said Audrey Rowe, USDA Administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service. “I am encouraged by their commitment to the health and wellness of children in Washington demonstrated here today.”
Federal and District officials and Wards 7 & 8 community leaders participated in the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools event at Burrville Elementary School, highlighting recent efforts to improve the healthfulness of school meals. New USDA nutrition standards for school lunch require schools to dramatically increase the amount and variety of fruits and vegetable served to students each day and the District’s Healthy Schools Act also provides DC public and charter schools with additional resources to serve more fresh local produce and other healthy foods.
“United Fresh is honored to partner with Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States to improve children’s eating habits and health. Salad bars are an effective strategy for increasing children’s consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and are the easiest way for schools to meet the new federal nutrition standards for school lunch that emphasize more fruits and vegetables,” said Dr. Lorelei DiSogra, vice president of nutrition & health, United Fresh Produce Association. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools has donated salad bars to many public and charter schools in the District.
“DCPS is excited and grateful that the students in Wards 7 and 8 have this wonderful opportunity to expand their choices to more fresh vegetables as a result of these salad bars. We are very proud to say that there are 30 salad bars in operation throughout the District in our elementary, middle and high schools benefitting thousands of students every day,” said Robert Jaber, Interim Director of the DCPS Office of Food and Nutrition Services. “DCPS is committed to increasing children’s fruit and vegetable consumption through school lunch, school breakfast, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program and the supper program,” added Jaber.
Research and experience in schools across the country demonstrate that children significantly increase their fruit and vegetable consumption when given a variety of choices in a school salad bar. When offered multiple fruit and vegetable choices, children respond by incorporating greater variety and increasing their overall consumption. Nationwide, more than 2800 schools have received salad bars from the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign.
About Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States
Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States region, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, provides and coordinates complete health care services for almost 500,000 members through 29 medical centers in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980, Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-AtlanticStates is a total health organization comprised of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-AtlanticStates, Inc., and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, P.C., an independent medical group thatfeatures approximately 1,000 physicians who provide or arrange care for patients throughout the area.Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States is considered one of Maryland's "Top HMOs," according tothe Maryland Health Care Commission. The health plan was ranked in the nation’s 25 top commercialhealth plans and 10 top Medicare health plans – and the #1 Medicare plan for Maryland, Virginia, andWashington, D.C. – by “NCQA Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2012-2013 Private.” For moreinformation about Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States, visit kp.org or follow us on Twitter,twitter.com/KPMidAtlantic.
About Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools
Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools is a public health campaign to increase salad bars in schools across the country so that every child has the choice of healthy fruits and vegetables every day at school. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools supports First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to end childhood obesity in a generation. Founding partners are: United Fresh Foundation, National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, Food Family Farming Foundation, and Whole Foods Market. More information can be found online at www.saladbars2schools.org
About the United Fresh Foundation
The United Fresh Foundation is the United Fresh Produce Association’s 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization designed to help meet the public’s need for healthy, high quality, safe and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. Through its Center for Nutrition and Health, the Foundation is devoted to enhancing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables through environmental change and public policy, and industry commitment to charitable endeavors. The Center is working to double the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by American children, helping to end childhood obesity in the next generation.
Source: United Fresh Foundation
