MILLINOCKET -- In a targeted effort designed to promote healthy eating and exercise habits among students in Maine, Hannaford Supermarkets will bring the award-winning "Fresh Adventures at Hannaford-FOODPLAY" tour to schoolchildren in Millinocket. Hannaford's groundbreaking partnership with FOODPLAY, a national award-winning nutrition education theater program designed to help counter the alarming national epidemic of childhood obesity, is stopping in Millinocket as part of a five-state tour. All totaled the Hannaford--FOODPLAY tour will reach more than 40,000 children in 100 elementary schools throughout New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
The Hannaford-FOODPLAY tour will visit: Granite Street Elementary School in Millinocket at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, September 14.
FOODPLAY is an Emmy Award-winning live theater show that combines fantastic feats of juggling, captivating characters, music, magic, and audience participation with motivating health messages to help children take charge of growing up healthy and fit. Addressing the major nutrition, fitness, and self-esteem concerns affecting today's schoolchildren, FOODPLAY provides children with the practical tools they need to improve their eating and exercise habits--all in a spirit of fun and celebration. FOODPLAY is a science-based program with proven results showing dramatic improvements in the nutrition and health knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of elementary school children.
"It's no secret that good eaters make good learners and we look forward to providing schools with this unique performance," said Mike Bennett, Millinocket Hannaford Store Manager. "Education is the key to improving the health and eating habits of kids and families and we're happy to bring such effective and well-loved programming to schools which have the need, but not the resources."
Founded in 1982 by Emmy Award-winning nutritionist, Barbara Storper, M.S., R.D., a leader in the field of children's nutrition, FoodPlay Productions has spread its message of good health to over two million schoolchildren across the country. With its two traveling theater shows, FOODPLAY for elementary schools and This Is Your Life! for middle schools, FoodPlay Productions has been making a difference countering the increasingly poor eating and exercise habits of the nation's youth for over 20 years.
"It does take a healthy village to raise a healthy child," said Storper, "and we are so pleased that Hannaford has stepped up to the plate, bringing FOODPLAY to thousands of children and families throughout the Northeast." Hannaford Supermarkets is the first major corporate sponsorship FoodPlay Productions has secured. "Their support and active involvement with schools, community organizations, and focus on food quality and variety make them an ideal partner for FOODPLAY," explained Storper.
While FOODPLAY makes good eating great fun, its messages are quite serious. In the last twenty years, obesity rates have doubled among school children and tripled among adolescents. Less than one percent of U.S. children consume the recommended servings of healthy foods and fewer than half participate in daily physical activity.
As part of the "The Fresh Adventures at Hannaford - FOODPLAY Tour!" schools will receive a live FOODPLAY theater assembly along with dynamic follow-up materials for everyone involved ... teachers, students, parents, school food service, and health staff. Each school will receive a FOODPLAY Follow-Up Resource Kit which provide resources for ongoing follow-up in the classroom, cafeteria, and at home. Comprehensive Teacher Activity Guidebooks will be distributed to each teacher providing fun, reproducible lesson plans and student worksheets to follow-up on the enthusiasm generated by the show and to help teachers integrate nutrition into core subject areas.
Students will receive a "Passport to Fresh Adventures!"- a fun-filled booklet with stickers which provide children with a colorful and interactive way to keep track of their fruit and vegetable intake. Encouraging children to "travel the world" by enjoying a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, students can redeem a special prize at their neighborhood Hannaford Supermarket when they fill up their passports. Students will also receive FOODPLAY Snack Cards to post on their fridge along with "Winning Ways to Treat Your Body Right." Finally, parent letters will also be distributed to students to take home, providing helpful tips to raise healthy children.
For fun food tips, activities, and handouts, visit the FOODPLAY website at www.foodplay.com.
Hannaford Bros. Co., based in Scarborough, Maine, operates 160 stores under the Hannaford Supermarket and Hannaford Supermarket and Pharmacy names. Stores are located in Maine, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Hannaford stores feature Guiding Stars, America's first storewide nutrition navigation system. Hannaford employs more than 26,000 associates. The company is owned by Delhaize Group of Brussels, Belgium. Additional information can be found at www.hannaford.com.
