By

Sean Paino,   Baldwin Park Elementary School

Play:

Breakfast For Everyone — First Meal Matters

Topics:

Access to Healthy Foods

We started the Snack Exchange last year, so this was our second year doing it. This year, we intend on doing doing it 2-3 times. The exchange brought great awareness to the kids on healthier eating and giving the kids the option to eat healthy. The event runs all day during lunch. We buy $300-400 in fruit and prepare it. I have 2-3 volunteers every hour walk around with the fruit. The kids/students are allowed to exchange something unhealthy in their lunch for something healthy. The unhealthy snacks (Doritos, Twinkies, etc)  are boxed up and shiped to the Marines. This allows kids to try fruit that normally might not. It was a huge success again and hopefully, we can continue that.

How do you plan to make this Play last during the school year and beyond?

We plan on doing this 3 times this year which allows the students more opportunity to be healthy

How did you accomplish your goals?

We brought awareness to healthier eating

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Not all people care about being healthy, so a good number of students opt not to trade their unhealthy snack for a healthier one.