National CACFP Week
March 15, 2016
It’s National CACFP Week! Wondering what CACFP stands for? It’s the Child and Adult Care Food Program. We are proud to serve as a sponsor for this important USDA-funded/Delaware Department of Education-administered program.
As a sponsor, we prepare thousands of meals each week for 60-plus sites throughout Delaware that serve children in after-school programs. For many children, this meal may be the last nutritious meal received before heading back to school in the morning.
These meals are prepared each morning in our Newark and Milford production kitchens. Led by our Children’s Nutrition Program Coordinators, volunteers assemble and pack thousands of meals and snacks each week. A fleet of Food Bank of Delaware van drivers travel throughout the state to deliver coolers full of meals and beverages.
The Garfield Park Police Athletic League in New Castle is one of our after-school meal sites. Children attend the center Monday-Friday and enjoy a safe haven for after-school enrichment programming and a meal.
Yesterday, Food Bank of Delaware staff visited the center to observe. On the menu – soy butter and jelly sandwiches, applesauce, chocolate milk and a banana – YUM! In addition, Amanda Good, our Community Nutrition Educator, held a special three-part nutrition education session, Kickin’ it with Calcium! Yesterday’s class was day two.
Once kids enjoyed their after-school meal, they filtered into a classroom to learn all about calcium! Amanda opened the session with a fun dice game to get the kids moving! Each participant had the chance to roll a set of stuffed dice. One die was numbered, while the other was labeled with exercises. Our first participant rolled the dice… one landed on the number 6, the other landed on push up … 6 push ups!
The kids got down and gave Amanda six push ups! The game continued, and the kids built up a sweat! Amanda reminded them, “Your body needs calcium in order to have strong bones and muscles!”
After the dice game, it was time for Calcium Jeopardy. Three teams competed to see who knew the most about calcium. Did you know that clams are a source of calcium?
To close out the hour-long session, the kids sampled a calcium-rich food. On the menu this week – spinach salad with strawberries, almonds, chicken and balsamic vinaigrette dressing! Did you know that spinach is rich in calcium? The kids all seemed to enjoy their salad, and surprisingly, many requested no dressing.
Next week, Kickin’ it with Calcium will wrap up with homemade smoothies!
Thanks to our extensive programming offerings, we are able to pair after-school meals with fun and engaging educational activities such as Kickin’ it with Calcium!
To learn more about programs offered at the Food Bank of Delaware, please click here
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