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.