With community support, we eliminated high - fructose drinks from
school vending machines and banned sweets from classroom parties (a hard swallow for those drinking the same sugary punch as Cookie Crusader Sarah Palin); changed the tuition - based preschool food offerings to allergy - free, healthful choices; successfully lobbied for a
salad bar and then taught kids how to use it; enlisted Gourmet Gorilla, a small independent company, to provide affordable, healthy, locally sourced, organic snacks after -
school and boxed lunches; built a teaching kitchen to house an afterschool cooking program; and convinced teachers to
give - up a union - mandated planning period
in order to supervise daily outdoor recess.