Dear Dr. Susan,
 What a difference a year makes. Just one year ago, the Westchester Coalition for Better School Food
hosted its first successful conferences on school food for school
administrators and parents in Westchester County, NY.
Participants left charged up about improving food in their
districts. We felt we were on our way to making change
locally. On the national front, I became one of the
"angry moms" in the soon-to- be-released documentary
feature film, "Two Angry Moms," a film that focuses on what
happens when two fed-up moms try to change school food. One of my
main goals for the film's outcome is to create a movement of two
million "angry moms" (and dads) who will take a stand for their
children's health and demand changes in their local communities. As
a grassroots organization, we sensed that big things were happening.
We've been inundated with emails and calls for help--not just from our
corner of the world, but from across the country. The news is bursting
with headlines about childhood obesity and food-related
illnesses. We've been called upon again and again to tell our
stories from the making of "Two Angry Moms." We knew that the
work we were doing in New York could be helpful to communities
nationwide, and we focused our efforts on creating resources to affect
change on the national school food landscape. We've
added several motivated parents to our board of directors to help build
the movement. We've launched a new website (see feature story,
below) that will provide inspiration, information and resources for
improving school food. And we've dropped "Westchester" from our
name, to reflect our growing national membership. We hope you
enjoy our inaugural newsletter as a new and improved "Better School
Food," and we hope you find us helpful. Sincerely, Dr. Susan Rubin, Founder, Better School Food |
Join Better School Food
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We're
Better School Food (BSF), and we have a new look, and more importantly,
new resources for you to improve your school food environment. Our new
website, betterschoolfood.org,
is your one-stop-shopping center for transforming school food. In
order to maintain and improve this resource for the BSF community,
we're asking our email subscribers to become members for a nominal fee
of $25. By becoming a BSF member, you will receive the following
benefits:
- Membership in our national network of better school food advocates (helps provide local support)
- Receive
our quarterly newsletter which includes information to help you create
good health and food practices at home, in schools and in communities
- Opportunity
to participate in monthly teleconferences designed to support you in
advocating for better school food in your community
- Shared best practices and access to sample wellness policies
- Tax benefits from contribution
We want to stay in touch with you and continue to provide you support in your quest to improve school food. Click here to join. Thank your for your support.
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FoodNews
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Another new feature of Better School Food's new website is "FoodNews"
on our homepage. We are aiming to provide information that will
support communities in creating change on the local level. "What's on the Menu" will keep you up-to-date with BSF activities and actions. "News Bites" will give you the big-picture news in school food, such as legislative happenings. And "Food for Thought" will provide new perspective on a particular food, ingredient or issue.
The BSF Blog
provides a voice to guide you in your grassroots work. Visit the
blog to gain insight into legislative issues, food standards and other
ways food impacts our health and our lives.
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Community Spotlight
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Katonah-Lewisboro School District, Lewisboro, NY:
One year after revamping the entire district's cafeteria menus with
such changes as pizza made with whole wheat crust, unhealthy drinks
replaced with juices, smoothies and sparkling waters, and the
elimination of fried foods, sales are up, feedback is positive and the
school board has been named a 2007 winner in the Magna Awards, given
out by the American School Board Journal.
The district's
school food and wellness program was recognized because of the
connection that we made to the best interests of the students - not
only in the lunchroom, but also in the classroom. In addition to
the cafeteria changes, a wellness policy was implemented that impacts
all areas of the school campus including food served in an out of the
classroom, in vending machines, at school celebrations, and to student
athletes. Efforts to integrate food into the school curriculum
and activities are also underway. The district also received an
honorable mention from the National School Public Relations Association
for its Keys for Wellness newsletter. Keep up the good work!
Rockland County, New York:
BSF's
first affiliate has officially formed in Rockland County, New
York. From their first community meeting last August with
seventeen people in attendance, they have grown to include fifty-five
concerned community members on their mailing list: health
professionals, parents, teachers, a child psychologist, chef, farmer,
social worker, religious leaders, nutritionist and doctors. Their
success in creating a forum for schools to improve school food has been
largely due to pulling together such varied members of the
community. They've received positive local publicity and plan to
offer a conference this fall for parents and teachers. Welcome aboard, Rockland County!
If you have a school food success story to share, please send it to lisa@betterschoofood.org.
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Events
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- Valley Table at Whole Foods, White Plains: Join Better School Food and Valley Table
magazine to hear about its latest issue featuring Dr. Susan Rubin, Two
Angry Moms and BSF; healthy snack ideas will be presented. June 18 from 11:00am - 1:00pm.
- Kickoff BSF Teleconference in July: Join us for our first teleconference on Monday July 9th at 7:00pm EST;
we'll be discussing how parents can create effective strategies for
healthy change in their community. (We'll send an email to remind
you!)
- Conference for educators: BOCES Southern Westchester, October 16th from 5:30pm - 8:30pm,
Southern Westchester BOCES, Elmsford, NY. Dr. Susan Rubin and Geri
Brewster will be discussing how to use food as a tool and the ABC's of
food in your schools curriculum
For more information on these events, email us at:
betterschoolfood@aol.com. |
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Our Mission
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Is to raise awareness of the connection between food and children's health, behavior and learning.
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Become A Member
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Ingredient Facts
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| Check your food and drink labels for the ingredient sodium benzoate,
which is used in foods such as preserves, salad dressings, soft drinks,
fruit juices and pickles. Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) is also added
in food and drink production to help prevent spoilage and extend
shelf-life. When sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid are used in
combination, a reaction can occur and benzene may form. Benzene is a known carcinogen. Some
soft drinks have recently been found to contain high levels of benzene,
and, as recently as May 2007, a popular soft drink company settled a
lawsuit, and agreed to change formulas to minimize benzene
formation. Another major soft drink company still has an action
pending against them. |
BSF Picks
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Recent Books
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver Slow Food Nation: Why our Food Should be Good, Clean and Fair, by Carlo Petrini and Alice Waters Check out these videos on YouTube:
Transforming School Food
Real Food for Real People |
Food Facts
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The food industry burns nearly a fifth of all the petroleum consumed in the United States-about as much as automobiles do.
Source: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
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For More Information
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Better School Food
287 E. Main St. #231
Mount Kisco, NY 10549
(914) 864-1293
betterschoolfood@aol.com
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About BSF
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About Better School Food
Founded
in 2005, The Coalition for Better School Food (BSF) is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to improving school food for a positive impact
on children's health, behavior and learning. BSF founder Susan Rubin,
DMD, HHC, is a dentist, holistic nutritionist and parent of three who
has been advocating better school food for over a decade. BSF aims to
provide resources and guidance to parents who are inspired to take
action after seeing the film Two Angry Moms, created by award-winning
documentary filmmaker and Yale University Department of Medicine and
Psychiatry Lecturer Amy Kalafa, HHC |
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