Thanks to Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, children in over 100 schools in 5 states are having free fruit and vegetable snacks throughout the day. As chairman of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, Harkin wanted to help promote healthy eating habits in children. The senator wondered if kids would eat more fruits and vegetables if they had access to them at times other than lunch, so Harkin authored a program funded by farm bill monies to find out if they would. Schools in Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and the Native American reservation in Zuni, New Mexico received grants through the program to purchase produce for distribution at various times—before, during and after school. USDA, the National Cancer Institute and the Produce for Better Health Foundation provide direction and educational materials to supplement the program.
The results of the program are overwhelmingly positive. Kids receiving the free fruit and vegetables are more attentive in class and are eating fewer high-calorie snacks from vending machines and at home, the USDA reports. One school reported $800/week in candy bar sales prior to the pilot and a drop to $300/week after the program took hold. School nurses also are reporting fewer students with headaches and stomachaches.
At one participating school, Warren Harding Middle School in Des Moines, IA, tubs containing fruit or packs of carrots and other vegetables are placed in every classroom each day as well as in the cafeteria and school office. Students are free to take as much as they like and almost none is left over at the end of the day, Principal Donna Christensen said.
"I like the fruit, because after lunch I’m always hungry," said Dexter Cheathem, an eighth-grader at Harding. He said he eats more fruit at home, too, since the school effort started.
Seventh-grader Ashley Ramey eats lunch at 10:30 a.m. and says the snacks of fruit or vegetables help her study. "You can concentrate on your work more instead of your stomach growling," she said. When she goes home, she has started eating an orange instead of getting a bag of chips.
Carrots with dip and strawberries were students’ favorites along with kiwi fruit, apples, pineapple push-ups, cucumbers and celery.
Harkin is extremely pleased with the results of the program thus far according to Karil Bialostosk, a senior member of the Senator’s staff. “We have visited 23 schools in Iowa, and I’ve talked to others by phone. It’s exactly what we had hoped for. Students are coming home and asking their mothers to buy what they tried in school. Everyone from students to teachers to parents are excited.”
Congress in considering expanding this successful program during this year’s budget debate, but wallets are tight in Washington, DC. Help from everyone will be needed to tell these stories of success.
