by Laraine Weschler, Republican-American NAUGATUCK — Healthy choices are on the menu at Hop Brook Elementary School as a new program this year aims to convince students to fall in love with healthy food and eat it every day. Amy Swanson, an AmeriCorps volunteer from Oregon, is launching a FoodCorps program at the school. Swanson chatted with … Continued

It’s not always easy to change the way school-aged children think about what they eat, and how it links up to their health and to their communities. But FoodCorps is creating awareness and change, one school at a time. Daniel Marbury, the FoodCorps Central and Southern Regions Program Manager says, “Our goal in Michigan, like in the other states where we work, is to help kids grow up healthy and to help them build a relationship with healthy food.”

Based on our experience at FoodCorps, the national service organization that brought us together as a funder (Davidson) and social entrepreneur (Ellis), here’s a look at the five common weaknesses built into many alumni programs and what the organizations running them can do better. By FoodCorps CEO Curt Ellis and funder Stuart Davidson.

“At the end of the day, it’s an exposure issue,” said Cecily Upton, co-founder of the nonprofit FoodCorps, which brings agricultural and nutrition education into elementary schools. “Right now, we’re conditioned to think that if you need food, you go to the store. Nothing in our educational framework teaches kids where food comes from before that point.”

Rachael Ray is “very concerned about the state of nutrition in our public schools,” but she sees FoodCorps as a reason for hope. Watch this episode of The Rachael Ray Show to hear what she had to say to Erika, a FoodCorps member in Camden, NJ.