First graders gave rave reviews when asked how they would rate a new program that gives them free snacks every day.
“They are good,” first grader Piper Willis said.
Her classmates agreed.
“They are the best,” Tinsley Thompkins said.
“They are healthy for you,” Hudson Knispel said.
A $50,000 grant from the Kansas Department of Education is supplying fruits and vegetables to the grade school classrooms until September. Since its start in November, the program has served over 750 students, and supplied around 8,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables.
The goal is to provide a healthy alternative during snack time, as well as help children who face food insecurity at home.
“It’s helping those kids who are hungry and need an extra snack. It’s creating healthier students who are ready to learn because they are fueling their bodies with good food,” first grade teacher Megan Cleveland said.
Eudora Schools Foundation program coordinator Lauri Kuntz said access to fruits and vegetables and building healthy habits is the main mission of the grant.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for kids to be able to try different fruits and vegetables. We’ve really had a need in the school for snacks in general because kids were coming in hungry and leaving hungry,” Kuntz said. “And we want to make sure that they have the opportunity to concentrate in the classrooms. It’s always a behavioral help, as well.”
Kuntz helped orchestrate the program and now oversees it. Shanda Hurla, executive director for the school foundation, said they applied for the grant after hearing about it at other schools.
Not only does the program supply fruit and vegetable favorites, but Kuntz has exposed students to fruits they might not have at home, such as kiwi and pomegranate. Recently, 26 classes agreed to try dragon fruit.
“We rotate out in the fridge. This week we have cantaloupe and pineapple and watermelon,” Kuntz said.
In order to supply the students, the school partners with local grocers. After ordering cases of fruits and veggies, Food Nutrition Service workers at the school clean, cut and bag the items. Student helpers and staff then replenish the refrigerators in every grade’s pod.
Kuntz and Hurla are looking into ways to expand the program.
“We would love to be able to do this at the middle school and high school, as well. Because we know food insecurity or things like that don’t stop after grade school,” Hurla said.
Reach reporter Katie Hanney at [email protected].
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