Healthy Children, Healthy Families, Healthy Communities

The smell of fresh tomatoes, onions, and peppers wafted through Shalonda Harris’s Gardening to Cooking class. These little pre-k kids were making salsa and learning about fresh vegetables in the process.

The kids squealed with delight as Ms. Harris passed around plates of fresh salsa and chips. The more I visit our healthy eating lessons, the more I see how much they love learning about produce and how to prepare healthy meals to eat at home with their families.

For the last two years, Operation Shoestring’s Project Rise afterschool program has incorporated Gardening to Cooking as a regular segment in our program. In addition to working with the kids, we’re privileged to partner with the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) to also educate our parents on making healthy food choices in our 10-week long Healthy Eating workshops.

Research from the Afterschool Alliance shows “access to healthy foods and the consumption of healthy foods are key components of a healthier lifestyle for children. While providing a snack or meal is a part of many afterschool programs, recent research has found that afterschool programs can effectively promote healthfulness among children by offering nutritious beverages and snacks.”

The Operation Shoestring approach to learning is a shared experience for the whole family. This allows us to promote healthy eating in a way that will benefit our children in afterschool and at home. We’re all responsible for ensuring the well-being of our community.  This includes eating healthy. We must do our part to support efforts – like in our afterschool program – to help children and families live a successful, happy, and healthy lifestyle.