Feed the Kids for Summer - Common Ground Network

The following is a special post for our community about the Feed the Kids for Summer program from the Common Ground Network:
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Created and administered by the staff and volunteers of the Common Ground Network, Feed the Kids for Summer is a program which assists struggling Mansfield ISD area families to meet their grocery needs during the summer break from school.

Families who depend on the government-sponsored school meal programs to help provide their children with nutritious food are left with a large void to fill during the summer months. Common Ground interviews hundreds of families to determine the most urgent needs and then goes into action to make sure that supplemental groceries can be provided to them for the duration of the summer.

Feed the Kids for Summer is designed to help supplement lunch and breakfast food for children in the Mansfield ISD. The food is kid friendly and does not require a stove or oven to prepare.

Additional information can be found on the Common Ground Network website. Also, if you know of a family who could benefit from this program, please download the Feed the Kids for Summer Distribution Flyer (pdf) and share with them.

In 2010, the Feed the Kids for Summer Program collected, bagged and distributed over 5,000 bags of food. The total cost was over $25,000.

The 2011 Feed the Kids for Summer Program, broke a record when they collected, bagged and distributed 6,839 bags of food at a cost of $35,334. This breaks down to $5.17 a bag.

Feed the Kids for Summer is one of several programs of Common Ground

Network created to care for families in need within the Mansfield ISD.

In 2011, volunteers like the ones shown above packed 700 bags of

food each week of the summer program.

Mansfield ISD is a partner with the Common Ground Network.

Which Green Beans Took the Gold?

Over the past month, eight campuses have been competing in a Green Bean recipe contest held by the Mansfield ISD Student Nutrition Department. 

Teachers, custodians and aides submitted their favorite green bean recipe to their school’s Student Nutrition Manager to prepare and offer to students. Each campus selected their students’ favorite recipe and entered it into the Finals. 

On Friday, February 10, Brenda Prescott, a third grade teacher from Martha Reid Elementary, won the competition by a landslide with her “Crumby Green Beans!” On Valentine’s Day, the Martha Reid Student Nutrition Team presented Prescott with an Avante360 gift card and a Great Recipe Idea certificate. Each student in Prescott’s class received a coupon for a Frozen Fruit bar of their choice. 

In addition to the prizes, Prescott’s recipe (with a slight name change) will be added to the menu at all school campuses on Wednesday, March 7. 

“Student Nutrition is excited to include students and faculty in our recent recipe contest,” said Gaylan Mathis, Student Nutrition Director. “We are looking forward to putting the winning recipe on our menu!”

Congratulations to Brenda Prescott and thank you for sharing your delicious recipe! Don’t forget to stop by your school cafeteria on March 7 to sample the award-winning Crumbly Green Beans.

Healthy Snacks Take the Prize at Howard Middle

T. A. Howard Middle School Health Teacher and Coach, Brad McAlister, took teaching health to a healthy, new level. On Wednesday, February 8th, Coach McAlister held the Healthy Snack Contest. Students were placed in teams of 4-5 students. As a team, the students were challenged to come up with a healthy snack that met strict guidelines. Each snack was required to be 250 calories or less and must contain a fruit or vegetable.

Coach McAlister came up with this idea over the Winter Break while watching cooking shows on television with his wife. The goal of his project was to help the kids learn there are healthy and delicious alternatives for snacks instead of chips and soft drinks. 

Over the course of the day, Coach McAlister’s class became the talk of the school. Coach McAlister was very pleased with the effort and thought the students put into the project and has decided to make this contest a regular event each semester. 

"I thought this would be a great way to get kids to eat healthier snacks," said McAlister. "I envisioned the students would come up with creative ways of making snacks that all kids would be willing to eat."

McAlister also plans to put together a recipe book with the students' recipes.

Special thanks to Donna O’Brian (Principal), Pete Jenson (Assistant Principal), Brandee King (Assistant Principal), Karmen Waquespack ( Teacher), Doug Klaudt (Teacher), Ryan Bartoszek (Teacher/Coach), Jared Hall (Teacher/Coach), Dr. Fred Garza (MISD K-12 Health Coordinator), Denise Hayslip (District Dietitian/Nutrition Coordinator) for gladly volunteering to judge the students healthy snacks.

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See more photos from the Healthy Snack Project. 

Student Nutrition Department is Ahead of the Curve

On January 25, 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released new regulations for the National School Lunch Program to ensure healthier school lunches for students across the nation.

The final standards make the same kinds of practical changes that many parents are already encouraging at home, including:

• Ensuring students are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week;
• Substantially increasing offerings of whole grain-rich foods;
• Offering only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties;
• Limiting calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size; and
• Increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats and sodium.

Mansfield ISD has already taken great strides on our menus to encourage healthy eating throughout the student population. Implementing these changes will be easy for MISD because of the previous menu revisions over the last several years.

At the elementary and intermediate level, all sandwich offerings from lean meat hamburgers to grilled chicken are offered on whole wheat products only. Whole wheat dinner rolls are offered one to two days a week on the elementary and intermediate levels as well. We began serving whole grain pizza in the 2010-11 school year after a taste test was conducted at Holt Elementary school in the spring of 2010. Students were given samples of pizza made from different flour types. When asked to choose which pizza they would like to have in the cafeterias, the response was overwhelming in favor of the whole grain pizza. The pizza is also topped with low fat mozzarella cheese. 

The new regulations require any flavored milk to be nonfat. Again, MISD has already accomplished this by offering only 1% unflavored milk or nonfat unflavored, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla milk. 

MISD offers chef salads and fresh fruit daily at all school levels. Ground turkey in place of ground beef is used in several entrees offered by the District. Other healthy alternatives offered by the student nutrition department are yogurt, fruit parfaits and entrees such as oven roasted chicken and pasta dishes made from whole grain pasta. 

So in response to these regulations, MISD is well prepared and welcomes the changes the government is making to enrich the lives of students across the nation through better nutrition.

Feed the Kids for Summer - Update

Thanks to the efforts of the staff and volunteers from the Common Ground Network, the Feed the Kids for Summer program is in full-swing. According to organizers, the program is up nearly 30% over last year. As of July 20, they've distributed 4,798 bags of food to area families.

Phil Stover, Feed the Kids for Summer program co-chair, was happy for us to share the news about the group's progress.

"By all means encourage contributions and volunteering," said Stover. "The food bags cost nearly $5.00 each, so we are spending right at $3,500 a week and money is still needed."

Feed the Kids for Summer is designed to help supplement lunch and breakfast food for children by assisting Mansfield ISD area families to meet their grocery needs during the summer break from school. The food is kid friendly and does not require a stove or oven to prepare.

Families who depend on the government-sponsored school meal programs to help provide their children with nutritious food are left with a large void to fill during the summer months. Common Ground interviews hundreds of families to determine the most urgent needs and then goes into action to make sure that supplemental groceries can be provided to them for the duration of the summer.

If you are interested in helping, you can consider volunteering. You can also a tax-deductible donation, by making checks out to, "Common Ground", memo FKFS and mail to - Common Ground, P.O. Box 1049, Mansfield, TX 76063.

For questions, contact FKFS Co-Chair, Phil Stover at 817-709-1174 or philstover@charter.net.

Mansfield ISD is a partner with the Common Ground Network.

'Get Healthy Texas' Features Impact of Wellness Campaign

Martha Reid Elementary staff was recently featured by our local CBS affiliate for positive results from a friendly health competition among campuses thanks to Methodist Mansfield Medical Center's District-wide wellness campaign.

MMMC Principals' Fitness Challenge - Martha Reid Elementary health feature [VIDEO], dfw.cbslocal.com



Background
The wellness campaign started back in October when Methodist Mansfield Medical Center donated 4,000 pedometers to the Mansfield ISD staff as well as sponsored a Principals' Fitness Challenge program to promote the importance of health and fitness. By helping principals and school personnel create a healthier atmosphere for learning and working, Methodist Mansfield Medical Center hoped to create a healthy environment for the community.

“Methodist Mansfield Medical Center is joining forces with Mansfield ISD to promote healthy schools and improve health and academic outcomes,” said President of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center Laura Irvine at the time of the campaign launch. “By providing pedometers and sponsoring the Principals' Fitness Challenge we hope to increase healthy behaviors, encourage healthy role models for students, increase employee morale and promote a positive community image.”

“I want our employees to know we value their health and wellness,” said Dr. Bob Morrison MISD Superintendent of Schools. “If our staff identifies even small ways to improve their health, we'll have accomplished something positive.”

The Principals' Fitness Challenge was designed for campus administrators to voluntarily challenge themselves to a free and simple-to-follow 12-week fitness and wellness program. The goal is to encourage participants to take the first steps towards living a healthier lifestyle by increasing physical activity and improving nutrition. MISD staff members are invited to participate through championing their administrator and even taking the challenges on themselves.

Check out all of the winning campuses and principals from the challenge.

Feed the Kids for Summer - Common Ground Network

The following is a special post for our community about the Feed the Kids for Summer program from the Common Ground Network:
---------------------------------
Created and administered by the staff and volunteers of the Common Ground Network, Feed the Kids for Summer is a program which assists struggling Mansfield ISD area families to meet their grocery needs during the summer break from school.

Families who depend on the government-sponsored school meal programs to help provide their children with nutritious food are left with a large void to fill during the summer months. Common Ground interviews hundreds of families to determine the most urgent needs and then goes into action to make sure that supplemental groceries can be provided to them for the duration of the summer.

Feed the Kids for Summer is designed to help supplement lunch and breakfast food for children in the Mansfield ISD. The food is kid friendly and does not require a stove or oven to prepare.

Last year the program provided over 5,000 bags of groceries at a cost of over $25,000.00. As you can well imagine, the need this year will be even greater.

Additional information can be found on the Common Ground Network website. Also, if you know of a family who could benefit from this program, please download the Feed the Kids for Summer Distribution Flyer (pdf) and share with them.

Feed the Kids for Summer Stats:

2010 Program
Bags of groceries: 5,000+
Cost of program: $25,000+

Estimated Needs for 2011
Bags of Groceries: 6,000
Cost of Program: $27,500+

Mansfield ISD is a partner with the Common Ground Network.