The National School Lunch Program provides nutritionally balanced free and reduced price lunches to children of low income families in need. The summer time can be difficult for those families as children are not provided a healthy meal when school is out. The summer meal program helps to alleviate the stress of feeding children during the summer break.

Hesperia Unified School District is one of many districts in San Bernardino county that provides meals during the summer. The district Food and Nutrition Services started the summer with an exciting kick off lunch at Topaz Elementary, one of the meal sites. Over 300 children were served a nutritious meal and were provided enrichment activities for the whole family to enjoy.

All four UCCE programs were represented at the kick off  providing information and activities for families. EFNEP distributed  recipe cards, cutting boards and calendars for parents and signed parents up for the UCCE Connects to You distance learning pilot program. Children were given gardening gloves from the Happy Healthy Me curriculum to start growing vegetables at home.  Master Gardeners had a small space herb garden and vermicomposting demonstration as well as promoted the MG hotline and volunteer program. 4-H brought a live rabbit for children to pet, the living desert sensory station and the signs of animals present in the forest. Master Food Preservers promoted their public classes and had a tropical freezer jam tasting, it was a hit! 

 

Juanita Blakely Jones Elementary School kicked off their first Game On Health Fair April 24, 2019 to celebrate Every Kid Healthy Week. The health fair was a part of the Game On Grant the school received through Action for Healthy Kids. The goal of this grant is to help improve the overall health of students through promotion of physical activity and nutrition education.  An estimated 250 students as well as parents were in attendance. All students received a passport that was to be stamped by each vendor as they went around the fair learning about living a healthy lifestyle.  The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health held a Rethink Your Drink booth to encourage families to reduce consumption of sugar sweetened beverages. The Department of Public Health Local Oral Health Program held a booth to show students proper tooth brushing techniques and how to take care of their teeth. Loma Linda University Dental Health Clinic was also there to promote dental hygiene. The San Bernardino Superintendent of Schools held a booth to promote MyPlate and nutrition. The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Master Gardeners brought worms to teach about composting, UCCE Master Food Preservers sampled fruit leather, and UCCE Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program engaged students in growing from seeds. The school staff offered other booths with fun exercises including tricycle races, ring tosses and a hula hoop contest. The highlight of the afternoon was the opportunity to make a smoothie on the infamous smoothie bike. Students lined up to take turns pedaling the bike. All students were entered into a raffle for 3 bikes to encourage physical activity. Students went home with non-perishable food items provided by Tzu Chi Foundation.

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) has been working with Jones Elementary to provide a series of nutrition education classes to both students and parents. Three of the 6 families participating in both the youth and adult EFNEP program were recognized for their dedication to learning about living a healthy lifestyle at the Game On Health Fair event. The three families went home with a certificate of recognition from EFNEP and a spinning globe from the school principal.

 

 

 

Two invaluable EFNEP contributors were honored at the UCCE San Bernardino Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on Saturday February 9, 2019. The event was held at the Chino Basin Water Conservation District in Montclair. Alice Ruiz, a school nurse in the San Bernardino Unified School District, has worked closely with our youth educator Dalilia Lizarraga, to bring the program to Lincoln and Bradley Elementary schools over the last several years. The program has had a lasting impact on the 1^st through 3^rd graders reached. Each year they are excited to learn more about making healthy choices and Ms. Ruiz has played an integral role in this. Esmeralda McWilliams, also an honoree, is the community liaison for the Cajon High School Family Engagement Center in the San Bernardino Unified School District. Her close connection with parents from schools in the district, has helped the EFNEP program impact many families. She helped Clara Wilshire, EFNEP adult educator, overcome hurdles which led to a large group of 19 parents enrolled in EFNEP Eating Smart Being Active series. She also assisted in bringing in the UCCE Master Gardener program to teach parents how to grow their own herbs.  Without dedicated volunteers, EFNEP program would not be as successful as it is today.

 

Summer is here! To help Redlands Unified School District kick-off their summer meals program this year, EFNEP participated in the kick-off fair at the Redlands Community Park on Wednesday, June 13^th.  Lots of families visited the EFNEP booth for information about our up-coming nutrition classes at Smiley Library scheduled to start in July.  Some people already heard about the classes which start this week at the Redlands YMCA.  The children visiting our booth participated in the glove garden activity from our Happy Healthy Me curriculum. It was a big hit and sparked lots of interest in gardening. EFNEP also provided informational flyers about the Master Gardener and Master Food Preserver Programs. We had a lot of questions regarding gardening and preserving foods, and were able to refer them to the UCCE San Bernardino county website for more information.  Overall it was a great start for our summer activities this year!