Objectives

The Objective 

To provide healthy organic food free of GMO's ( genetically modified organisms) and hormones to children at schools by teaming with local farmers to create awareness and support of the farmers, boosting the local economy. 

The Details

We want to provide a multi-function solution to nutrition problems children unknowingly face at school. Providing a good example will help them jump start a healthy lifestyle that is not present in majority of the students today. School food started out as a solution to hunger and now has created behavior, learning, and heath problems because schools have turned their food service over to huge for-profit organizations. These businesses replace real food with cheap substitutes that they themselves would not consider eating. 

According to the CDC childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2010. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period. Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of 5 to 17-year-olds, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This is a direct result of the eating habits the youth in america have today. Not only are our youth having "caloric imbalance" but many of the foods they do get are not healthy and not providing them with the nutrients they need throughout the day. 

Foods that contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and processed ingredients do not contain all the nutrients that unprocessed organic foods contain. The sad truth is many of the foods that are most popular with children contain GMOs. Cereals, snack bars, snack boxes, cookies, processed lunch meats, and crackers all contain large amounts of high risk food ingredients. In North America, over 80% of our food contains GMOs.  If you are not buying foods that are Non-GMO Project Verified, most likely GMOs are present at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Once we raise awareness for the issue with childhood health problems and encourage school systems to partner with the local farmers and families this will be a much need solution to many issues. Also it will teach children and parents the long term benefits of being healthy and eating locally.