In This Issue

• HSC News: Green Clean Summit, Cooking up Change
• Program Updates: National School Lunch Week
• Recent Blog Entries: Positive Trends in School Food; Green Schools; Cooking Contest and More

HSC News

Advocates Prepare for Green Clean National Summit
Building Coalitions for Green Clean Schools Laws

HSC is pleased to announce the first national summit dedicated to bringing green clean schools laws to every state.

In 2006, the state of New York passed a law requiring green cleaning in schools. In 2007, Illinois passed a similar law. Now, activists in more than a dozen states are planning to introduce legislation requiring schools to protect the health of students and staff by implementing green cleaning programs.

Please join Healthy Schools Campaign and advocates from around the country for a special Green Clean Schools National Summit, building on this momentum to bring health-promoting green cleaning laws to every state in the nation. The summit will connect local activists and national organizations to build strong, effective state-level coalitions. Learn more at www.greencleanschools.org/summit.

Plus: A limited number of scholarships are available to cover the cost of travel for non-profit advocates. Contact Mark Bishop at 312-419-1810.

Cooking up Change Tickets, Prizes & Winning Recipes
Silent Auction Now Open Online!

Don’t miss this year’s Cooking up Change, featuring a Healthy Cooking Contest with Chicago Public Schools culinary students and an opportunity to celebrate good friends, good food and good works!

Student teams are finalizing their recipes for the competition as HSC’s event chairs put the final touches in place for the benefit.

Click here to learn more and get your tickets online.

Raffle
The raffle features prizes to delight anyone with a love of food. Winners do not need to be present at the event, so purchasing raffle tickets is a wonderful way to support HSC from anywhere in the world.

First prize is a culinary weekend for four in the beautiful Mississippi Bluff Country in Wisconsin’s Hidden Valley with author, teacher, and renowned chef Monique Jamet Hooker. Second prize is The Culinary Institute of America’s 50-piece Masters Collection, providing the luxury of owning the 50 most essential culinary tools including full sets of cookware, bakeware, cutlery, utensils, gadgets and more.

Silent Auction
The silent auction also features a unique array of items to satisfy the foodie, athlete, gardener, spa enthusiast and traveler in all of us! Be sure to check out silent auction items online – select items are available for pre-event bidding or for immediate purchase!

Thanks to our Event Chair Kelly Dettmann and Contest Co-Chairs, Lisa Gershensen and Elaine Sikorski, we expect this to be the most successful benefit ever. In addition, our dedicated host committee has worked tirelessly to make Cooking up Change a success. Thanks as well to all our sponsors!

To learn more, visit www.cookingupchange.org.

HSC Marathon Team Crosses Chicago Finish Line
Runners Make a Difference for Healthy Schools

Runners on HSC's charity athletics team have crossed the finish line of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon! Congratulations and tremendous thanks to every runner for this remarkable effort on behalf of healthy schools.

You can be part of this effort by supporting the HSC team with a donation or getting involved on the HSC teams running other races!

To learn more, contact Allie Krass at 312-560-4994.

Sign the Petition for the Future of School Food
Raise Your Voice for a Healthy Child Nutrition Act

Click to add this badge to your website!

The 2009 reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act offers a tremendous opportunity to create a future for school food in which fresh, healthy meals are the norm and all children have access to the type of comprehensive nutrition education that creates healthy habits for a lifetime.

Please join us in raising your voice for a healthy reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act by signing HSC's petition. We will deliver the petition to the new president of the United States to ensure that the Child Nutrition Act is a priority for the administration.

Plus: When you sign the petition or sign up for Child Nutrition Act updates, you'll receive a coupon for $1.00 off your next purchase from Applegate Farms!

Happy School Lunch Week!

Oct. 13-17 is National School Lunch Week! Please join HSC in celebrating the hard work of our schools’ many advocates and food service staff whose tireless work is bringing about positive changes for school food around the U.S.

This is a great week to join the children in your life for lunch at school!

Plus: To learn more about this week and the activities surrounding it, check out the recent blog by HSC School Wellness Director Jean Saunders.

Recent Blog Entries

HSC's staff experts discuss news stories and new developments every week at the HSC Blog. Stop by and leave a question or comment. And while you're there, enter your email address for automatic delivery on days when a new blog entry has been posted. Here's a look at some of our recent posts:

Positive Trends in School Food, Pt. 2 | by Rochelle Davis
I shared my excitement about findings in the 10th annual trend report recently released by the School Nutrition Association showing how healthy food continues to increase in popularity. I do not want to neglect some other interesting notes from this report. The report found that food service departments are becoming much more environmentally responsible. . . Read more

Kicking Off the Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest| by Sara Klinzing
Cooking up Change 2008 has gotten off to a fiery start, with 13 schools participating in this year’s healthy cooking competition. In my role as Healthy Cooking Contest Liaison, I’ve been traveling around to all the schools, meeting the students and instructors, and getting them geared up to compete. It has been an absolute treat meeting the students. Many teams have returning students who competed in last year’s event and others hosted tryouts to determine their team roster. . . Read more

New Studies Will Help Show Benefits of Green Schools| by Rochelle Davis
I was very pleased to see that the U.S. Green Building Council made three generous grants to increase our understanding of how green schools can improve student health and learning. We will be looking forward to the results of these studies. In the meantime, the evidence that already exists clearly shows the benefits of green buildings. . . Read more

"When I first heard about it, I thought, 'OK, maybe, maybe not.' But it's better than any restaurant I've been to."
- Sixth-grader Peter Imel, on the healthy farm-to-school lunch now served at his school, as quoted in the Associated Press

Events

More Than Just Breakfast: Integrated Pest Management, Green Cleaning and Your School | Nov. 6 | More

Green Charter Schools Conference | Nov. 7-9 | More

Green Clean Schools National Summit | Nov. 12 | More

EPA IAQ Tools for Schools National Symposium | Dec. 4-6 | More

Padres y maestros combaten la obesidad infantil en escuelas hispanas Chicago
9.30.2008 | MSN.com Latino
This story profiles the work of HSC's Parents United for Healthy Schools. The story was picked up by Spanish-language news outlets around the U.S. and Mexico, including Yahoo! Noticias, El Universal, KBNT San Diego, and more.

School Garden Kit Awards
Annie's Homegrown and KIWI Magazine will give away 100 Organic Garden Kits to schools across the country
so they can help plant the seeds for learning | More

Love Your Veggies Grants
Deadline: Nov. 7, 2008
Ten $15,000 grants for offering fresh vegetables and fruits through the 2009-10 school year | More

Youth Garden Grants Program
Deadline: Nov. 1, 2008
For schools and community organizations with child-centered garden programs | More

"Increase your Green" School Competition
Deadline: Ongoing
Reduce the carbon footprint of your school this fall to win up to $1500 to further the efforts | More