Nourishing California
Have you heard of Nourish? The good people at Nourish are doing something unique and desperately needed. When you read daily in the news about the obesity epidemic in the US and how it affects our kids and our future, much of what you read is critical, scary and full of negativity.
Food policy is blamed for supporting crops that fatten up our kids. Large food companies are blamed for marketing their addictive junk to kids. Schools are blamed for selling cheap, nutrient-devoid ‘fair food’ to kids who don’t know any better. Parents are blamed for using the fast food drive-through and not preparing nightly family dinners from scratch. Kids are blamed for staying inside and plugging into their electronic gadgets. There is a lot of criticism but no positive direction or any optimism. The problems feel overwhelming and it almost makes you want to throw up your hands in defeat and say, “the issues are too big and nothing can be done.”
Nourish is re-writing this story. With a multi-pronged approach, they are giving kids, schools and families really important and USEFUL help. They are designing videos to get the message out with captivating and passionate content (anyone who hears Michael Pollan wants to change this game!) This marketing works to counter-act the cereal adds suggesting chocolate can be part of a healthy breakfast. They are creating curriculum for teachers to bring food discussions into the classroom to impact how kids think. They have gathered famous advocates (Lappe, Waters, Pollan among others) to build clout, and get people to pay attention. With this influence, they have worked with such honored media partners as PBS to bring the entire community into the fold to create change, offer solutions and give people hope. Their message is that little changes in our collective behavior can make a difference. Talk about something new!
Working to feed over 18,000 kids a day throughout 220+ public and private schools in California means that we at Choicelunch are also trying to create change and create answers for kids, families and our society. It is so nice to be in partnership with another organization like Nourish that wants to give people hope and remind us all that, in fact, “something can be done!”
