In March, the Association of Junior Leagues International launched a new website, http://kidsinthekitchen.ajli.org, which features a variety of resources to help teach children healthy eating habits, such as a virtual recipe collection from celebrity chefs, local restaurateurs, celebrity moms and nutrition experts.
During Volunteer Week, individual Leagues from across the Association hosted educational events in their local communities. The JLR hosted its Kids in the Kitchen event on April 22, 2006. The event partnered the JLR with the Girl Scouts of Genesee Valley, and targeted girls 7-12 years of age. The program focused on promoting health, nutrition and exercise with multiple demonstrations and interaction with the many girls at the GSGV Program Center services. In this Junior League volunteer day initiative, the JLR provided demonstrations and discussions by licensed Nutritionist Anissa Buckley founder of No Excuse Nutrition, Yoga-Fit classes by JLR member Lisa Cove, and healthy preparation of on-the-go snacks. The event also included a “planting station” for participants to begin to grow vegetables from seed.
Kids in the Kitchen’s initial success speaks for itself: more than 225 Junior Leagues participated in the program and provided educational initiatives for children and families in their communities. To date, media coverage has reached over 80 million people with messages about the issues surrounding childhood obesity and the Junior League’s initiative to address these.
This League-wide initiative honors the Junior League’s long heritage of impact on family nutrition over the past 105 years. Kids in the Kitchen addresses a growing problem facing today’s children. Since the early 1970s the number of overweight children in our countries has increased dramatically, substantially increasing children’s risks for health problems such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen will continue in 2007. For the upcoming year, program activities will focus around February 1-March 31, 2007. This incorporates National Nutrition Month (March) in the U.S., which provides an excellent opportunity to build upon Kids in the Kitchen’s impressive first year and continuing to address the important issues related to childhood obesity and poor nutrition. For additional information, please email the JLR office at jlroch@frontiernet.net.