Celebrating CACFP at Heritage Elementary

March 20, 2018

Last week was National CACFP Week! What’s CACFP? It’s the Child and Adult Care Food Program. We are proud to serve as a sponsor for this important USDA-funded/Delaware Department of Education-administered program.

As a sponsor, we prepare thousands of meals and snacks each week for sites throughout Delaware that serve children in after-school programs.

Last week we celebrated National CACFP Week with a special event at the YMCA of Delaware’s after-school program at Heritage Elementary. First Lady Tracey Carney joined us for a fun afternoon of food, a healthy eating activity and a special skit created and performed by the students.

Students started the afternoon’s activities with a meal prepared by Food Bank of Delaware volunteers. Student helpers unloaded coolers filled with sandwiches, milk, juice, whole-grain chips, carrots and raisins. Table by table, kids came up to grab their meal before participating in a fun game with our Community Nutrition Educators, Gina Maresca and Julia Holmes.

Volunteer participants played “Fear Factor,” a fun way to get kids to try new foods! Three at a time, volunteers came to the front of the room to try foods that kids oftentimes are apprehensive about including kiwis, lemons, blood oranges, Asian pears, sweet peas and limes.

They closed their eyes and were handed a sample to taste – the faces were priceless – especially when the kids tried lemons and limes!

You could tell by the shrill of excitement in the air that the kids had a great time!

To wrap up the celebration, the kids performed a skit about the importance of eating healthy.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words! Check out this quick video of our fun afternoon at Heritage Elementary!