Your student’s school wants your help

Your student’s school is working hard to make healthier foods more available through standards for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks at school. Schools are constantly looking for ways to get better quality and more nutritious foods to your student and to get them excited about those healthy options. That’s because good nutrition builds healthy bodies and minds, which leads to better grades, and creates lifelong healthy habits for our students. But for this to work, we’ve got to keep it consistent, we’ve got to set the right example - schools and families included.

We can help provide consistent messages about healthy eating by making sure that even fundraising activities support healthy behaviors, and don’t conflict with what students see and hear about healthy food at school. There are plenty of other ways to fundraise that don’t include selling junk foods, such as physical activity related events like dance or sports, or selling non-food items like student art. But to make moves away from the old way of raising funds by selling unhealthy items, schools need the help of parents and families.

By showing up and using your voice to help plan and promote healthier fundraising options, parents and families can make sure that our students’ health is always at top of mind. It’s really a win-win. You can help raise important funds for schools to provide the best education possible for your student, AND we can continue to build healthy habits and better performing students through the types of fundraisers will allow at our schools.

So spread the word by sharing the video below (who doesn’t love puppets!?), and check out the section above for easy ways to take action!

The work on Healthy Fundraising being done at your schools is just one important piece of a much part of a larger picture of “School Wellness.” School wellness efforts are aimed at creating the healthiest school environment possible for our youth. Schools provide a place for students to not only learn what’s in their books and on the whiteboard, but to develop healthy habits, like healthy eating and being physically active. And guess what? The students who eat well and stay active also perform better in school, showing higher grades and test scores.

All school districts already have written standards in place to make sure they provide your students with the healthiest school environment possible - typically referred to as a School or District Wellness Policy. But they need parents and families like you to make sure those standards are up to par, and that they are actually implemented at your individual schools!