HFHK`s School Vegetable Gardens Grew Strong in 2011

HFHK’s School
Vegetable Gardens
Grew Strong in 2011
Inside this issue:
HFHK Cooks Up
Garden Fresh Vegetables for Delaware’s
Children
1
HFHK’s Cookbook
Recipes Devoured
2
Notes from HFHK’s
Past & Current Presidents
2
HFHK’s Donor Form
2
Many Thanks to our
Volunteers, Advisors,
Friends & Donors
3
HFHK Builds Gardens
for Delaware School
for the Deaf
3
HFHK’s Cookbook
4
2011 Events in Pictures
4
HFHK Welcomes
Public Ally, Alana
4
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Brader
Brookside
Delaware School
for the Deaf
Douglass
Downes
Elbert-Palmer
Forest Oak
Keene
Marshall
McVey
North Star
Richardson Park
Springer Middle
West Park Place
Wilson
Winter 2011—2012
HFHK Cooks Up Garden Fresh Vegetables for Delaware’s Children
Schools Currently
Partnering with HFHK:
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VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1
2011 was a productive and
exciting year for HFHK!
Through our vegetable gardening programs, over 5,000 students strengthened their understanding of science, and
Garden Coordinator, Maureen Stone,
supervises soil preparation at Springer
Middle School.
learned the importance of vegetables in a healthy diet. Among
our accomplishments:
We began new partnerships
and affiliations: HFHK
joined with
Cindy Sardo
of Cooking’s
Cool to bring
more healthy
cooking demonstrations to
our schools.
Our partnership with
Cooking’s
Cool got off to
a great start
with a demStudents plant seeds
at Etta J Wilson
onstration
school, a new HFHK
hosted by
garden this year.
Brader Elementary School and Christina
SD Child Nutrition Services.
Our efforts were supported by
First Lady Michelle Obama’s
Let’s Move campaign; the Chefs
Move to Schools
program provided
15 fabulous cooking
kits for our schools.
In addition, we
participated in Delaware’s Children in
Nature Project, and
the Urban Farming
Coalition, while
continuing to be
members of DEStudents at Forest Oak Elementary School harvest
HEAL and Healthy
tatsoi and turnips.
Kids Delaware.
We added new schools: In themselves, and that students in
spring, we were delighted to
our program learned new science
begin our Education Cultivaconcepts.
tion (EC) Program at Wilson
We laid the groundwork for
Elementary School, and to
next year: HFHK was honored to
assist Forest Oak Elementary
receive a Healthy People 2020
in expanding the size of their
Community Innovations Grant to
garden and the scope of their
start two school vegetable garprogram. In fall, we began a
dening programs. In 2012, we
pilot program at Elbert-Palmer are looking forward to working
Elementary, and partnered
with Bancroft ES, Richardson
with Master Gardeners to
Park ES, North Star ES, and fully
embark on an innovative proimplementing our programs at
ject at the new Delaware
School for the Deaf (DSD).
We created an HFHK Garden Manual, which will foster
sustainability of our program:
Thanks to the herculean efforts of Public Ally Jenna Banning, we completed our manual for teachers and Garden
Coordinators. We are currently piloting the manual in
our existing schools, and will
Two Elbert-Palmer
Elbert-Palmer
eventually share it with others. ES and Dela- students examine their
broccoli plants.
We completed a compreware School
hensive data analysis on the
for the Deaf. We also look forimpact of our EC program:
ward to contributing to the growth
We confirmed that students
of Farm to School in Delaware
were willing to try new vegeta- and continuing to develop and
bles if they had grown them
implement our strategic plan.
Page 2
HFHK’s School
Vegetable Gardens Grew Strong in 2011
HFHK’s Cookbook Recipes Devoured
Shoppers at Harvest Market Natural
Foods in Hockessin were surprised by a
spread of tasty recipes from HFHK’s
cookbook in April. Who would have
thought you’d hear, “Mom, this is the
best I’ve ever tasted!” after a sampling of
a tidbit of Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
followed with a splash of 2010 Delaware
State Fair Sunshine Smoothie? Later in
the day, Arugula Date Salad and Quinoa
Pilaf were offered.
Besides sampling tasty treats and
buying cookbooks, Harvest shoppers
asked questions about HFHK’s mission.
Our board members were happy to explain that, through HFHK’s curriculum-
Notes from HFHK’s Past & Current Presidents
From the Outgoing President
For the past two years, I’ve been
honored to serve as President of the
Board for HFHK. We’ve come a long
way in those two years. I have seen
our vision and mission grow, and the
addition of schools that are enjoying
the benefits of a strong program that
positively impacts child nutrition.
None of this would have been
possible without the dedication and
determination of the HFHK board of
directors and volunteers. Rarely
have I witnessed such steadfast
commitment by so many generous
individuals. Each board member
donates a portion of their precious
time to bring our vegetable gardening programs to New Castle
“The salad was delicious
and the kids ate it ALL!!”
aligned gardening lessons
and activities, children
experience the mystery of
putting a seed in the
ground and tasting the
delicious results weeks
later.
HFHK board members
and Harvest Market knew
Board members Jill
Simonds (left) and Nancy
they had a good thing
Littleton offer tasty samgoing and a couple
ples to promote HFHK’s
months later they did it
cookbook at Harvest
Market in Hockessin.
again. Look for us to be
there in 2012 as we love
sharing great recipes and the truism, you can’t
reap what you don’t sow…Happy Gardening!
County’s children.
As I step down as President, we welcome Dr. Barbara Boyce who expertly
takes the reins as HFHK’s incoming
President with the able assistance of Jill
Simonds as the organization’s Vice
President. Over the next two years we
will bring our services and contributions
to a whole new level. I look forward to
continuing my contribution to a bright
future for HFHK and the children of
Delaware.
Tony Gonzalez
President of the Board (outgoing)
----------------------------From the Incoming President
It’s an exciting time to be involved
with HFHK. A lot of national attention
Nurse Nancy Nadel, Forest Oak
Elementary School
“You are not only inspiring the kids to start
home gardens, you are
inspiring the teachers to
start their own gardens.”
Teacher Mary Jo Reighart, Downes
Elementary School
has been paid to the importance of vegetable gardening, thanks to the efforts of
First lady Michelle Obama.
Due to the tremendous leadership efforts of HFHK’s executive director, Dr.
Thianda Manzara, more and more kids in
Delaware are learning and applying realworld, hands-on science.
To help with planning for the future,
HFHK went through a strategic planning
process in the fall that identified four key
goals and objectives for the coming next
few years, focusing on development, marketing, governance, and programming.
Our important work couldn’t be done
without the help of so many passionate
people. I invite you to get involved with
our programs. Contact us to visit a school
garden and see kids actively engaged.
Dr. Barbara Boyce, HFHK President
Yes, I want to help Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, Inc.
and its efforts to set up school gardens.
Name
Address
City
Telephone
Email
Give to HFHK through the
United Way write-in
option. Write in “Healthy
Foods for Healthy Kids,
Inc.” and code #12479 on
your United Way of Delaware pledge form.
State
Level of Support: $50
Zip
$75 $100 $250 Other
Send to: Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, Inc.
P.O. Box 847
Hockessin, DE 19707
Or fill out the volunteer & donor form found on the HFHK website.
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1
Page 3
Many Thanks to our Volunteers, Advisors, Friends & Donors
The truly fabulous school principals, teachers, staff, and parent volunteers who make our programming
possible, especially: Director of Christina Child Nutrition Services Andrea Solge, R.D. & her terrific team, and
Denise Schwartz, Nina Friedlander, Erin Vicari, Jo Nardo, Eric Stephens, Janice Trainer, Joan French, Kim Blevins, Ledonnis Hernandez, Sheryl Murphy, Norman Kennedy, Kelly Stoneman, Moira Snider, Kim Benson, Nancy
Nadel, Diane Dambach, Beatrice Speir, Dawn Martinez, Scott Martin, Denise Hall, Sharon Brubaker, Heather
Buchanan, Mary Beth French, Pamela Loatman, Timothy Slade, Maureen Romeo, David Brown, Maureen Stone,
Jacquelyn Biggs, Carol Johnson, Jill Robinson, Irene Skelly, Helen Spacht, Kelly Green, & JoAnn Berkley.
The Delaware Center for Horticulture (DCH), especially Pam Sapko, Sarah Deacle, and Joe Matassino for inkind support. This year we said farewell to Sarah Deacle who served as an HFHK board member from 20082010, and prior to that served as an HFHK Planning Committee member for several years. We are deeply grateful to Sarah for all her work to help build HFHK, and she is greatly missed!
Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association of DE President, David Marvel, for his tireless work on Farm-to-School.
The Food Trust’s Jean Wallace, and Mid-Atlantic Regional Farm to School Coordinator, Alyssa Moles.
Volunteers extraordinaire Baodong Hu, M.S., for data analysis, Stephanie Miller for program assistance, and
Felicia Wu for research assistance, Stephanie Gallo and Cara Shipley for teaching nutrition lessons.
UD students who completed the nutritional analysis for our cookbook: Courtney Ferreira who did a fantastic job,
and was assisted by Stephanie Gallo, Jessica Perelli, Adriana Simoes, and Karen Thomas.
Garden builders: teacher, staff and parent volunteers at Wilson Elementary and Delaware School for the Deaf
(DSD). Also, at Wilson: several Public Allies from the class of 2011; at DSD: Master Gardeners Lynn Hessler,
and Mary Ellen & Fred Hillegas, and the wonderful Middle & High School students of DSD.
Farmers Pam Stegall of Calvert Farm and H.G. Haskell of SIW Vegetables.
NCC Cooperative Extension/Master Gardeners, especially Hetty Francke and Ellen Hahn.
University of Delaware (UD) Professors Nancy Cotugna, Carolyn Manning, Diane Oliver and students, especially
Liz Myers.
Providers of in-kind services: Lon Marcus, CPA, and Michael W. McDermott, Esq. of Berger Harris, paralegal
Miranda Brewer of Pepper Hamilton LLP, and PHS Corporate Services for serving as our registered agent.
Junior League volunteers: Heather Hood, Anita Steward, and Danielle Logan.
Our wonderful HFHK Board members, with SPECIAL THANKS TO METLIFE FOR USE OF THEIR FACILITIES.
Individual donors: Dr. Aguida Atkinson, Clara Benecki, Dr. Barbara Boyce, The Brody Family, Kevin Christensen,
Sundra Christensen, Esther Curtis, Tony Gonzalez, Nancy Littleton, Alexander Manzara, Drs. Barbara & Stephen
Mazur, Tony McDonald, Kathryn McKenney, Mary Narita, Drs. Jonathon Narita & Thianda Manzara, Renold Narita Family, Virginia Schiavelli, Jill Simonds, Krista Urbaniak, Jean Wallace, and an anonymous donor.
Organizational donors: Annie’s Homegrown, Arkieva Supply Chain Consultants, Fruit and Vegetable Growers
Association of Delaware, Harvest Market, Produce Marketing Association, and SIW Vegetables.
HFHK Builds Gardens for Delaware School for the Deaf
HFHK broke new ground and expanded its services this year working
with Delaware School for the Deaf and
Master Gardeners to create the school’s
first vegetable gardening program. In
November, six raised gardens were built
along with a solid foundation for healthy
lifestyles education for the students.
Grace Walker, who manages DSD’s
Alternative Placement Program, worked
as liaison between the school and
HFHK. Her enthusiasm and dedication
helped rally twenty student and adult
volunteers who built the garden in record time. Students’ energy and excitement were infectious as they “got their
hands dirty” building the garden.
DSD students, adults,
“Several [staff members]
and volunteers worked
said that this is the most
hard to build the gardens
worth-while project that
and fill them with soil.
DSD has undertaken in
years. They see the value
and can’t wait to be involved,” says
Mary Ellen Hillegas, a Master Gardener
and former DSD staff member.
In spring, both HFHK and DSD look
forward to enriching the students’ experience with more hands-on activities
as they plant, tend, and harvest the
garden.
The Mission of Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, Inc. is
to bring food- and garden-based educational programs
to schools throughout Delaware.
Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids
P.O. Box 847
Hockessin, DE 19707
Our Vision is to inspire and motivate youth to develop
lifelong wholesome eating habits by experiencing the joy of growing, cooking, and eating garden-fresh produce.
HFHK’s Cookbook
2011 Events in Pictures
Phone: 302-981-0043
[email protected]
www.healthyfoodsforhealthykids
.org
Board Members
(beginning Jan 2012)
Thianda Manzara, PhD,
Executive Director
Chair, Programs
Barbara Boyce, DHSc,
RD, President
Chair, Special Events
Jill Simonds
Vice President,
Chair, Governance
HFHK’s cookbook, “From
Yucky to
Yummy,
Learning to
Love Veggies” is still
available. A
collection of
over 100 vegetable recipes
for kids of all ages, it’s only
$7.50 a copy plus shipping.
To order, go to:
Delaware celebrated National Farm to School (FTS) Month at Colwyck Elementary School in October. From left to right: Mid-Atlantic Regional FTS Coordinator,
Alyssa Moles, National FTS Executive Committee Member, David Marvel, Event
organizer and DE FTS Co-chair, Paula Angelucci, and HFHK’s Dr. Manzara.
www.healthyfoodsforhealthykids.org
HFHK Welcomes
Public Ally, Alana
C. Anthony McDonald,
CLU, ChFC, MSFS,
Treasurer
Chair, Development
Nancy Littleton, LUTCF,
Secretary
Tony Gonzalez
Past President
Chair, Marketing & PR
Aguida Atkinson, MD
Kathy Hoy, EdD, RD
Frances Taccone
(Griffith), PhD, RD/LDN
Alana Iannucci
joins HFHK as
a Public Ally for
2011-12 year.
We are happy to welcome our new Public Ally,
Alana Iannucci. Alana is a
second year Ally, and is
currently pursuing her B.A.
degree in Organizational
and Community Leadership at the University of
Delaware. Alana has extensive experience with
youth programs, and is
passionate about sharing
her love of the outdoors
with children.
We would also like to
acknowledge the extraordinary work of Jenna Banning, our first Public Ally
from 2010 to 2011. With
Upper Left: Cindy Sardo, of
Cooking’s Cool, featured her
storybooks at the Brader Harvest Celebration in November.
Upper Right: Children took turns
building a healthy plate using
MyPlate as a template at the
Harvest Celebration at Brader.
Right: Public Ally Alana Iannucci
tests participants Veggie IQ at
the Delaware Ag Museum’s
harvest festival in September.
her bubbly personality and positive attitude, adults and children
alike enjoyed working with
Jenna. While with HFHK, Jenna
helped managed 12 school gardens, planned events, brought
the HFHK cookbook to fruition,
and helped develop a “how-to”
vegetable gardening manual
which will soon be available.
Thanks, Jenna. We wish you
well in your future endeavors!
Grace Walker (far left) and Master Gardeners Lynn Hessler, Mary Ellen Hillegas
and Fred Hillegas gain support for the
Blue Hawk Nest garden at DSD.