MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger

Healthy Snack Sack Program For Kids

In an effort to help combat childhood obesity, MAZON is piloting a Healthy Snack Sack Program for Kids. The Healthy Snack Sack Program for Kids will help pantries identify, purchase and distribute nutritious and affordable snacks, such as yogurt, string cheese, and fresh fruits and vegetables, rather than traditional “healthy” snacks such as pretzels, cereal and juice. The program will also help low-income families frequenting food pantries learn to make healthier meal and snack choices within their budgets and reduce their reliance on unhealthy food. Student interns studying nutrition at California State University Northridge (CSUN) will support project implementation.

Key program components:

• At least four diverse southern California food pantries (large, small, urban and rural) will implement a pilot nutrition awareness and healthy snack distribution program for children.
• Pantry staff and volunteers will receive training and individualized technical assistance on how to develop, implement, and sustain a healthy snack program for kids.
• Parents and children (Kindergarten through 6th grade) will receive “parent and child-friendly” interactive nutrition-related education materials at each of the healthy snack distributions.
• MAZON will compile best practices and guidelines into a Healthy Snack Sack Toolkit to integrate nutrition awareness and healthy snack distribution into a pantry’s routine service delivery.

Program update:

The Healthy Snack Sack Program for Kids program has reached the half-way mark. On February 16th, MAZON invited representatives from each of the seven participating food pantries to a meeting to evaluate how the program is going and make any necessary changes for the duration. For the food pantries it was a chance for program coordinators to express their thoughts about the program, as well as to tout their successes and share their challenges, both with MAZON and with each other.

So far, participants are thrilled with the program. Since September 2010, nearly 5,000 children have received snack sacks, each containing 5 single-serve snack items from each of the food groups (grains, fruits, vegetables, milk, and meat/bean/nuts). According to pantry program coordinators, the snack sacks are meeting parents’ requests to provide healthier foods for their children and helping to alter the preconception that “healthy foods taste bad.”

At the meeting, Healthy Snack Sack Program for Kids interns Jessica Calhoun and Dawn Costanzo, nutrition students at California State University Northridge, presented information from the next Healthy Snack Parent Guides (Physical Activity and Smart Shopping). They also prepared and served tasty snacks from the Parent Guides (Peanut Butter Banana Rollups and Cheesecake Grahams).

Although we have learned that availability of healthy single-serve snacks is still limited from manufacturers, the Healthy Snack Sack Program for Kids is demonstrating to parents and children that it is possible to choose good tasting alternatives to high fat, high sugar, and high calorie foods.