Lisa Varacalli, Vice-Principal at St. Louis Elementary School in Leamington, Ontario, shares her experience with Pure Flavor’s® Adopt-a-School program, which helps fuel young minds by feeding students healthy Mini Munchies® veggie snack packs on a regular basis.
How fortunate we are to live in a town where fresh and healthy veggies are grown every day of the year. Many of our students are well aware of what greenhouses look like and many have family members who work in the industry, but thanks to the generosity of Pure Flavor®, those students who are not as fortunate can experience the wealth of healthy eating on a weekly basis.
Eating fresh vegetables every day is very important for a healthy diet and for learning. We are grateful to live in a generous community that reaches out and always supports each other! While we are partially funded by the Ontario Student Nutrition Program, as well as an additional grant from President’s Choice Children’s Charity, we rely on community donations to help support the needs in our school community. Pure Flavor® has been a long-time supporter of our nutrition program and we simply couldn’t offer the rich selection of healthy snacking veggies our kids need without their support. Kids of all ages are always excited when the cases full of Mini Munchies® Snack Packs arrive!
Not only does Pure Flavor’s® Adopt-a-School program give our young students the opportunity to have wholesome snacks, but it allows for our student volunteers to learn valuable skills when preparing and delivering the snacks.
At the beginning of the Adopt-a-School program provided by Pure Flavor®, I would go into the classrooms to help deliver the vegetables, as well as to see what students would say about it. Mini Munchies® come with a variety of vegetables in each pack – tomatoes, mini peppers, and cocktail cucumbers. This ensures that every student finds a flavor they love every time! Initially, though, many of the younger students were not even aware of what the different vegetables were, so it was a great learning experience.
Now, when I enter the classrooms, I see students eating the vegetables and talking about what they enjoy about each of them. It fills my heart to hear this and to see these students eating what was generously donated to us.
With Mini Munchies®, Pure Flavor® has made it FUN for kids of all ages to snack on vegetables. Each pack has colorful characters that engage students and get them excited to taste what’s inside!
Before the pandemic, snacks were often delivered to schools and handed out. Thankfully, these convenient snack packs make it easy and safe for students to safely handle them using all precautionary measures. It just shows how much Pure Flavor® prides themselves on their products and are always looking out for the community – not only enriching our bodies, but our minds too!