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NJ LOTTERY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
TURN SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAMS
State Agencies Kick Off National School Lunch Week
With Tour of Voorhees School
(TRENTON) – To launch the observance of National School Lunch Week, celebrated October 15-19, 2007, a visit to the Osage Elementary School in Voorhees was on the schedule for Lottery Acting Executive Director William Jourdain and Department of Agriculture Division of Food and Nutrition Director Emma Davis-Kovacs. They were greeted at the school by Principal Diane Young and Food Service Director Debra Zee, who provided a tour of the cafeteria and kitchen facilities. Voorhees School District Superintendent and Business Administrator join them during the tour.
(L to R) Director Ema Davis-Kovacs, Principal Diane Young, Acting Executive Director William Jourdain, Food Service Director Debra Zee.
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(L to R) Director Davis-Kovcas, Voorhees School District Superintendent and Assistant Business Administrator talk with Principal Diane Young and
Acting Executive Director William Jourdain.
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Food Service staff line up to meet Director Davis-Kovacs (second from right) and Cheryl Goffus, Regional Coordinator, Southern Region Bureau Of Child Nutrition (far right), and then get to work preparing the day's menu.
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The New Jersey Lottery is a primary source of support for the State portion of New Jersey's School Nutrition Programs. The Lottery's Acting Executive Director William T. Jourdain, praising the School Nutrition Programs, said, “It is always a wonderful thing to see the revenues we raise flowing out into the community and improving a part of someone's life. We recognize the important work that the Department of Agriculture does in ensuring that the nutritional needs of all our schoolchildren are met, and we are proud to be able to provide support for their hard work.”
Food Service Director Zee, Acting Executive Director Jourdain and Regional Coordinator Goffus listen as Director Davis-Kovacs talks about the School Nutrition Program in New Jersey. |
New Jersey's School Nutrition Programs are administered by the Department of Agriculture. In the 2006 school year, all districts in the State were required to have implemented school nutrition guidelines that are the most comprehensive in the nation. In this school year, the average daily participation in the School Lunch Program was 637,152 students. For the School Breakfast Program, the average daily participation was 142,427 students.
"The National School Lunch Program is dedicated to ensuring the health and well-being of our children and
this year, during National School Lunch Week, we are celebrating implementation of New Jersey's Model School Nutrition Policy that has increased the nutritional value of foods found on cafeteria ala carte lines," said Emma Davis-Kovacs, Director the New Jersey Department of Agriculture's Division of Food and Nutrition. "Voorhees School District is among the top districts in the State for not only implementing our base standards but going over and above those requirements and incorporating many innovative approaches into teaching students about good nutrition and healthy lifestyles."
The Osage Elementary School will benefit from a Healthy School Recognition Grant the Department recently awarded to 10 school districts in the State. The Voorhees School District received $2,500, made possible through a United States Department of Agriculture Local Wellness Grant received by New Jersey's Agriculture Department, to fund an annual Educating, Eating and Exercising Day for its students.
Principal Diane Young said that the Voorhees community takes pride in the Osage Elementary School's outstanding instructional program and how students there excel in their academics. Principal Young also noted that students' lessons do not need to be confined to a classroom: "Although academics are important, we want our children to be healthy and happy in their learning environment. Healthy students have strong minds.”
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