Hillsborough Pride Elementary Surpasses Their Own Goal

We received exciting news at Pride Elementary in early January when we were asked to be one of the first schools to take part in a “Change Our World” campaign kick-off event.

Our school, which is located in Tampa, Florida, and is part of the Hillsborough School District, was one of the first schools asked to help the Global Child Nutrition Foundation through the "Change Our World" campaign and we were ready to help.

We started by setting a goal of $1,000 for our school, an amount we thought was achievable. To our delight, we were able to raise $2,400 through our four-day event, surpassing our original goal by $1,400, something we are really proud of.

We kicked off our event on January 22, 2008. We decided that our event would last for four days and include many events that students could take part in.

At the kick-off I talked to our 887 students and 65 educators, who range from kindergarten through fifth grade, about GCNF and what they do. The students also got to watch the “Change Our World” digital video, which told the story of Neenah and how she found that when everyone is able to give a little, it adds up quickly and can make a real difference. We played the digital video during the morning show as well as during lunch time in the cafeteria.

The excitement didn’t end there. The students learned about eating habits and nutrition in Central and South America and that week during lunch time, they got to watch a video about school feeding and nutrition in Pakistan.

This campaign really touched our students. We had children that donated their entire savings, bringing their piggy banks to school. We even had a parent, at the urging of their child; write a check for $100. These things show just how important “Change Our World” is to our students.

Parents, teachers, and the District Student Nutrition Services also got into the act. A parent and teacher bake sale raised even more money for the campaign. Our Hillsborough County Schools Nutrition Services General Manager, Mary Kate Harrison, was pleased with the event. She thought it was well done and felt the students and staff did a great job. She thinks that schools around the country will have success similar to ours.

To cap this fun week, Mary Begalle, National Marketing Manager – School Foodservice, Pat McCoy, Vice President School Foodservice, from Schwan’s Food Service, Inc., myself, and a handful of other Schwan’s Food Service employees greeted children in the cafeteria. We handed out beads and I went on the morning show in celebration of Gasparilla. I really got into the fun and dressed as a pirate for the Friday event.

As a bonus to our school, the teacher from each grade level whose class collected the most money will receive a Barnes & Noble gift card to spend on learning tools for their classrooms. Also, the class that raised the most money total received a Big Daddy’s pizza party, complete with beads, balloons and a conga line. Everyone had a great time!

We hope that this isn’t the end of the “Change Our World” campaign for us. We want to continue teaching our students about nutrition in other countries by working to get the children pen pals from around the world and by bringing in guest speakers to talk about the eating habits in other countries.

It’s amazing what we can do together when we set our minds to it.

James Quenneville
Student Nutrition Manager
Pride Elementary School
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Events in Washington, DC, Raise Awareness of World Hunger

February 6, 2008 – Students in the nation's capital have joined the fight to end world hunger. Nearly 300 students at Cardozo High School in Washington, DC, as well as local school foodservice directors, industry, SNA and Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF) staff, participated in the nationwide kick-off of the "Change Our World" promotion.

A two-day, fundraising campaign took place at SNA Headquarters on January 31, 2008, and Cardozo High School the following day, raising money for GCNF and generating excitement leading up to Global Child Nutrition Month, which takes place in April. GCNF programs combat childhood hunger around the globe by advancing sustainable and effective school feeding programs.

First, an event at SNA Headquarters brought together several school foodservice directors from Montgomery County (MD), Harford County (MD), Cecil County (MD), Prince William County (VA) and District of Columbia Public Schools with staff from SNA, GCNF, The Schwan Food Company™ and T. Furr & Associates to promote this campaign. The next day, several of the adults met with students at Cardozo for an assembly program. Barbara Belmont, CAE, Executive Director of SNA, shared with the kids that as many as 300 million of the world's children—a number equal to the total population of the entire United States—are trapped in the grinding cycle of poverty and hunger.

David Goodman, Executive Director of Food Services for DC Public Schools, also encouraged the kids about their ability to make a difference. Goodman is known in his district for improving the school lunches partly in response to student complaints about the poor quality of their previous cafeteria food. These changes have received an overwhelming "thumbs up" from the kids—food sales in select schools have increased as much as 500%!

After the assembly, Cardozo students got the chance to take action, donating their spare change to end world hunger through the "Change Our World" campaign. During the lunch period, milk jugs were placed throughout the cafeteria to collect student donations. Their efforts attracted the attention of Washington, DC, Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who joined the students to sample the new lunch fare being offered and to take part in "Change Our World" campaign activities.

Altogether, these two events raised more than $800 for GCNF. Part of the donations also went to the DC Central Kitchen, an area food bank. Most importantly, these events empowered kids in the capital of one of the world's most powerful nations to reach out and help other kids both here and around the globe.

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