News for Healthy Returns

4 Ways Healthy Futures is Working for DC Neighborhoods

Changing Eating Habits
Our innovative and thoughtful way of preparing healthy meals at DC Public Schools has led to solid returns. The kids are eating healthier every day and bringing those healthy habits home.

Building Partnerships with Small Businesses
Through Healthy Corners, we’ve partnered with 30 corner stores in Wards 5, 7, and 8 to provide fresh produce and healthy snacks at affordable prices. Not only are we investing in these stores and providing a new business opportunity, but we’re engaging the store owners to become crucial champions of change in their communities.

We’re also investing in local farms and buying much of our produce locally. Our Farm-to-School initiative engages farmers to become part of the solution by providing much of the healthy produce we serve.

Combating Childhood Hunger by Providing Three Square Meals
Together, our Healthy School Food initiative and Healthy Returns effort, which delivers meals and snacks to after school programs and summer camps, give kids healthy, scratch-cooked meals three times per day. And these meals are packed with fresh local produce, whole grains, and lean proteins.

Educating the Community
With our Truck Farm, school cooking demos, and community outreach efforts, we’re educating the entire community about nutrition. Last year, we educated over 9,800 individuals with hands-on strategies for healthy eating and an additional 2,300 children through the Truck Farm, an innovative traveling edible exhibit that teaches kids where food comes from.

You can be part of this success. Make a contribution this holiday season to promote health and combat hunger in DC neighborhoods.

How We Cultivate Adventurous Eaters

Think back to when you were in school. Did you ever get to try grilled BBQ beef bulgogi? How about curried chick peas, cauliflower gratin, red cabbage coleslaw, roasted beets, whole wheat bread stuffing, or Asia- style Brussels slaw? Before DC Central Kitchen produced meals for DC Public Schools, many of the kids had never tried whole grain pasta or raw kale.

We’ve learned that cultivating adventurous eaters, ones who are willing to give anything an honest try, takes time, repeated exposure, and a little one-on-one attention. And when healthy food is prepared the right way, most kids will give it a try! Kids get really excited about trying a specially prepared sample in an individual cup served to them by one of our chefs!

When the kids learn about a new food they like, they often talk about it at home. They ask their parents to provide the same food they’re getting at school. But if they live far from an affordable grocery store, it’s often hard to make those healthy meals at home. This is why we’ve partnered with 30 DC corner stores to bring many of the fresh ingredients and healthy snacks to their neighborhoods.

We’ve learned through our work at DC Public Schools that most kids want to eat healthy, but they aren’t being exposed to a variety of healthy food prepared in kid-friendly ways. This means going beyond simply providing vegetables as a side, to planning a variety of thoughtfully prepared dishes to give kids a wider palate. By cultivating adventurous eaters, we’re actually setting kids up to eat healthier for the rest of their lives.

You can join us to create brighter futures for DC families. Visit our Donate page and invest in our effort to push nutritional barriers and promote health in DC neighborhoods.

Pioneering a ‘Wraparound’ Approach to Changing Lives

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At DC Central Kitchen, we change lives through the creative use of food. Across America, there are lots of organizations bringing healthy food to low-income children and families. It’s important work, and we’re glad to see conversations about hunger, obesity, and diet-related disease taking place at dinner tables and in the halls of Congress.

But helping kids and families lead healthier lives takes more than handing out strange new foods and saying “Eat this, it’s good for you.” At DCCK, we have pioneered a path-breaking ‘wraparound’ approach to changing behaviors and empowering people to live better.

Others have said that kids don’t want to eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains – and when these foods are served only occasionally, and in isolation from nutrition education and real engagement, they’re right! But our programs provide healthy food options in school, after school, during school vacations, and even to corner stores near DC schools.

By offering these items at so many places where children spend their time, we reinforce good decision making and give them the tools to grow up strong.

Our model starts in school, where we serve nearly 5,000 healthy, locally-sourced, scratch-cooked meals to children enrolled at 10 DC schools. We focus on serving low-income neighborhoods, and many of the 2,000 schoolchildren we serve each day rely on us for three meals each day. When school is out of session, these kids face the threat of hunger. That’s why we distribute more than 100,000 nutritious meals and snacks to 35 youth programs and summer camps each year, helping nourish young people during school vacations.

And to help kids make smarter dietary choices on their own, we stock 30 corner stores in low-income neighborhoods with fresh produce and wholesome snacks through our Healthy Corners program. While other communities across America are searching for a solution to the lack of quality options on corner store shelves, DC Central Kitchen has become the only nonprofit to take on the central issue of distribution, making us a national leader in the struggle against ‘food deserts.’

We’re empowering our community to live healthier by bringing quality food to its schools, summer camps, and corner stores. Join our effort to build a healthier future today!

How We Get Kids to “Eat Real”

Here at DC Central Kitchen, it’s obvious that we take food seriously. However, did you know that we are also cultivating hundreds of young gourmands across the city?

Through our Healthy Returns program, we send free meals and healthy snacks to around 30 agencies that serve low-income children and teens every day.

These are scratch-cooked, healthy dinners that introduce kids to new foods through our weekly Health and Wellness with DCCK series. We also provide the agencies with nutrition education and cooking classes.

On Food Day 2012, we brought the “Eat Real” message to two Healthy Returns agencies. Kids worked together in hands-on activities to learn about the differences between processed and whole foods.

Using materials from the Food Day website, each student made an Eat Real Action Plan for the next week. Kids confessed that they had never really thought much about processed foods before, and the information was challenging!

We at DC Central Kitchen are proud to Eat Real. We hope that our work sets DC kids on the path for a healthy, happy future.

Nutrition lessons with Summer Feeding

DC Central Kitchen’s Summer Feeding Program, part of Healthy Returns, is well under way and our staff and volunteers have been busy providing healthy food to over 40 agencies serving children around DC.

In addition to providing food, our Summer Feeding staff goes to our agencies to give nutrition lessons to the kids to teach them about healthy food and healthy living.

The nutrition lessons focus on teaching the kids what foods are healthy for them and why. They also teach how much of each food group the kids should be getting at each meal.

This summer, our staff is using the upcoming Olympic Games as a tool to teach about healthy living through the 5 Olympic Rings of Nutrition. These 5 points cover adequacy, balance, calorie control, moderation, and variety.

Lessons are centered on hands on activities with the kids like drawing out healthy meals on paper plates and using teamwork to demonstrate the important of a balanced diet.

In giving kids the knowledge they need to make healthy choices while also providing them with healthy snacks, Summer Feeding is laying the ground work for a healthier future for our youth.