by Morgan Smith
Huntingtowne Farms fifth-grader Zaria Dunlap (left), taste-tests cheddar cheese at Earth Fare. Jennifer Tremblay and Jon Reed, Earth Fare employees, explained to the YWCA Leafcrest Learning Center students the differences between many types of cheeses and how they are made. (Morgan Smith/SCW photo)
With the holiday season approaching, and mounds of tasty, but sometimes fattening food lurking at every holiday gathering, youth learning centers of the YWCA are trying to encourage their kids to “watch what they eat.”
Childhood obesity has nearly tripled in the past 30 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. YWCA of Central Carolinas, an organization originally created to eliminate racism, also is committed to fitness and nutrition. With eight youth learning centers in Mecklenburg County and two in Union County, the organization educates under-privileged youth about growing healthy, while also providing tutoring and academic support.
The Leafcrest Youth Learning Center, a local YWCA center in the Leafcrest government-housing community, is an after-school program. Recently, the students have been learning about eating healthy, despite temptations of the Thanksgiving holiday. Joan Audrey, the center’s coordinator, said the staff focuses on the theme “I am thankful for…”
“We talk about the Pilgrims and the fresh fruits and vegetables they grew collectively to share them,” said Audrey, who has worked for the YWCA for four years and was a teacher for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for 21 years. “That’s socialization like we try to do.”
Many of the children “will eat a lot of food over the holidays that is bad for them. We are trying to show them how to eat healthy, nutritious snacks, instead of all the sweets and stuff, and we try to teach them to not over eat,” she added.
To expand on the “I am thankful for” theme, Audrey said the students – most attending Huntingtowne Farms Elementary School – need hands-on experiences. The group went on a field trip Thursday, Nov. 17, to Earth Fare, a natural food store in SouthPark. The chain says it does not carry any products with high-fructose corn syrup; artificial fats and trans fats; artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives; bleached or bromated flour; or antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones in their meat and dairy products.
At Earth Fare, the students were able to taste-test fresh fruit and cheese, as well as an entire healthy meal the store served free. Jennifer Tremblay, community relation’s coordinator for Earth Fare, also taught the kids about fresh vegetables used during the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Earth Fare really is committed to making healthy food available for children who don’t normally have access to it,” Tremblay said.
The kids seemed to enjoy the experience as well. Fifth grader Zaria Dunlap was able to taste her favorite fruit – apples – chemical-free.
“I think its good to eat healthy food because it’s good for your body,” she said.
Audrey said the students are even spreading their new nutrition education to their parents, and the parents are actually starting to catch on.
“Our parents have discussed how their kids want to go shopping with them now when they go to the grocery store. And they (the children) are picking out specific things that they are supposed to be eating,” Audrey said.
“I’m just grateful that Earth Fare is open to the community – to educate our children as well as our adults in the proper manner of eating. Traditionally, we just eat what we were taught and what we were raised on and its always time for change – change is good, for a healthy choice.”
Local restaurant provides Thanksgiving dinner to YWCA women and families
The owners of Ed’s Tavern, a local restaurant on Park Road, provided a Thanksgiving dinner Tuesday, Nov. 22, for women and youth in programs at the YWCA Central Carolinas.
At 4 p.m., the restaurant closed its doors to privately serve about 100 people in the YWCA’s Women in Transition and Families Together programs who may not have the means to have a special meal for Thanksgiving.
“Women and children in transitional housing programs at the YWCA may not have a place to enjoy Thanksgiving, and we wanted to provide that opportunity,” Krisztina Cole, owner of Ed’s Tavern, said in a news release.
YWCA Central Carolinas, 3420 Park Road, was created to eliminate racism and empower women. The organization supports nearly 300 under-privileged youth in learning centers through tutoring, feeding programs and learning activities. The YWCA also supports unaccompanied homeless women and families.
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