Day Care Meal Provider Serves Up Nutrition and Education

Quality Catering for Kids Launches Lesson Plans Tied to Menus

MILWAUKEE, WI–(EMWNews – August 20, 2008) – A hot lunch is more than just good food for

children at hundreds of day care centers and schools in Wisconsin and

Illinois; it’s also an education in nutrition.

The education comes from daily lesson plans that accompany meals prepared

by Quality Catering for

Kids, which each day delivers more than 14,000 hot, nutritious lunches

to childcare centers and schools in southern Wisconsin and northern

Illinois, said Jim Scharnell, president of Quality Catering for Kids.

“The lesson plans are fun adventure stories designed to complement the

meals that are served daily,” Scharnell said. “The goal is to educate

children about a balanced diet and the value of all the food groups in a

way that they can relate to. The plans are designed to encourage healthful

choices not only now but also throughout their lives.”

Each day’s meal has at least one food item that is a good example of the

nutritional value the lesson plan is describing, he said. “The meals really

are now part of the early education program.”

As a way to reinforce the message, children are encouraged to complete

simple “homework” assignments each week. The worksheets have simple tasks

such as looking in the refrigerator or freezer for broccoli or other

vegetables and talking to parents about the nutritional value of those

items.

“Our hope is that this will make it easy for kids and parents to learn

sound nutrition via the stories and the homework,” Scharnell said. “Good

nutrition is extremely important for young children, but existing lunch

programs often don’t provide the essentials,” he added. “And sack lunches

from home also usually lack the nutrition a child needs for lunch.”

The lessons plans and take-home worksheets are a hit for children at

Guardian Angel Learning Center on Milwaukee’s east side, said Sr. Mary

Louise Balistrieri of the center.

“We see the lessons plans as added value to the lunches,” she said. “It’s a

good addition to the service. And the children really enjoy the lessons and

the take-home worksheets; it’s going over very well.”

The nutrition plans complement the nurturing that childcare centers and

pre-schools provide, said Nancy Lambert, a Wisconsin Dietetic Technician,

Registered, who reviews all menu items to assure each meal meets nutrition

and growth guidelines.

“Quality nutritious food choices are the gift a caregiver provides to

encourage optimal growth and development of a child,” Lambert said.

The lessons plans are provided at no additional cost to day care centers

that receive hot lunches from Quality Catering for Kids. An early childhood

education teacher with a master’s degree in professional education writes

the lesson plans, and notes that “early education is the key” in teaching

about nutrition and healthy eating habits.

“We’re doing this at no cost to the childcare centers because we believe so

strongly in the need for proper nutrition,” Scharnell said, adding that the

program is unique. “I know of no other meal provider that offers a

nutrition education along with the meal service,” he said.

Quality Catering for Kids prepares meals in a unique USDA-approved

commissary in Lake Villa, Ill. Along with selecting foods that are

nutritious, Quality Catering for Kids uses food preparation processes that

retain nutritional value.

Specially outfitted trucks deliver the hot meals each day, so customers

only have to open the heat-retaining carriers and portion out servings.

Because of its experience and volume, Quality Catering for Kids is able to

provide nutritious hot lunches at highly competitive price and usually for

less than the cost of a sack lunch.

Along with its Lake Villa commissary and offices, the company has an office

in suburban Milwaukee that serves Wisconsin childcare centers and schools.