Food Day Event Showcases DC Central Kitchen's Efforts to Promote Healthy Eating at Schools, Corner Stores

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Through our partnership with the schools and corner stores, we’re providing a new model for changing kids’ eating habits – and we’re making healthy food affordable for everyone.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 24, 2013

In celebration of Food Day on October 24th, DC Central Kitchen will hold a cooking demonstration at Kelly Miller Middle School to showcase the organization’s efforts to combat hunger and promote healthy eating among at-risk D.C. children.

When: October 24, 2013 11:30 – 2:30 pm
Where: Kelly Miller Middle School, 301 49th St NE, Washington, DC 20019

The students at Kelly Miller will learn how to make a healthy kale and pear salad and will receive a grocery list to purchase the ingredients at the nearby Capital View Market, a corner store that receives deliveries of fresh produce through DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners Program. In addition to the cooking demonstration, DCCK’s mobile Truck Farm exhibit will provide students with a lesson about where food comes from.

Healthy Corners is the only program of its kind nationwide, as DCCK directly distributes affordable, fresh produce and healthy snacks to 32 corner stores in D.C. neighborhoods known as ‘food deserts,’ which lack sufficient access to nutritious food options.

DC Central Kitchen also provides 4,800 locally sourced, scratch-cooked breakfasts, lunches, and suppers every day at 8 DC Public Schools and Washington Jesuit Academy. In addition to providing meals, DCCK provides nutrition education at the schools, including cooking demonstrations and taste tests to encourage kids to try healthier foods.

“Through our partnership with the schools and corner stores, we’re providing a new model for changing kids’ eating habits – and we’re making healthy food affordable for everyone,” said Paul Day, Communications Manager for DC Central Kitchen.

According to the D.C. Department of Health, 61 percent of residents of the District of Columbia are either overweight or obese, with obesity rates exceeding 20 percent in Wards 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. In D.C., five of the top ten causes of death are directly related to diet, physical activity, and weight status – heart disease, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and stroke. Nearly 20 percent of children lack secure access to decent food.

Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Last year, DC Central Kitchen invested $156,523 into local farms to provide fresh local ingredients for their school meals.

About DC Central Kitchen
For more than 20 years, DC Central Kitchen has pioneered a new model of using food as a tool to change lives. We provide nutritious meals to our neighbors in need, equip unemployed men and women to begin culinary careers, and engineer successful social enterprises that advance our mission while creating good jobs for the people we serve. Through job training, healthy food distribution, and local small business partnerships, DC Central Kitchen offers path-breaking solutions to poverty, hunger, and poor health.

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