HOW IT WORKS
Changing the harmful to healthy happens when school districts, our tremendous partners and powerful allies, work tirelessly to provide their children with the food they deserve. Our method for change includes:
Education
Hooray 4 Healthy
We provide a complimentary digital nutrition education program. Hooray 4 Healthy is an easy to use curriculum designed for 1st-4th graders. This fun program includes four short animated nutrition videos to be paired with a physical activity video and teacher guides to facilitate interactive discussion. To extend learning to the home, parent support guides are also available in both English and Spanish. Sign up for our free program here.
Lessons are also taught in person by volunteer Life Time Team Members. Please contact Megan Flynn at mflynn@ltfoundation.org for more information.
Grants
Our grants are delivered to school districts to support the elimination of the Harmful 7 ingredients. Grant recipients are committed to the elimination of ingredients of concern, have a sustainable plan to reach that goal and are in need of financial assistance. Each partner has unique needs ranging from, but not limited to, capital equipment to education and marketing to professional development and training.
Our current recipients are our true champions in delivering our mission, so that every child receives the nourishing food they deserve:
Napa Valley USD – Brandy Dreibelbis
Minneapolis Public Schools, MN – Bertrand Weber
Boulder Valley School District, CO – Chef Ann Cooper
Detroit Public Schools Community District, MI – Chef Kevin Frank
Roseville City School District/Dry Creek Joint Elementary, CA – Mohamed Elazazy
Austin Independent School District, TX – Anneliese Tanner
Minnetonka Public Schools, MN – Jane Bender
Programs & Partnerships
School Food Support Initiative (SFSI)
SFSI is our cooperative training program for small and medium-sized districts from the U.S. that want to innovate and improve their school meal programs to learn and work together to eliminate the Harmful 7 by transitioning to a cook-from-scratch model. We believe this is the most sustainable way to eliminate the Harmful 7 ingredients. Participating districts receive hands-on training from a team of school food service experts, on-site assessment and strategic planning of the school district’s operations, the opportunity to apply for an equipment grant, and technical assistance throughout the grant period.
SFSI is a Life Time Foundation program in partnership with Chef Ann Foundation and Whole Kids Foundation, with support from The Gateway Fund. Learn more and see if you are eligible here.
2016 Cohort:
Bellingham Public Schools, WA, in partnership with Whole Kids Foundation & The Gateway Fund
Buford City Schools, GA
Passaic Public Schools, NJ
Warren City Schools, OH, in partnership with Whole Kids Foundation & The Gateway Fund
Watertown Public Schools, MA
2017 Cohort:
Brewster Central School District, NY
Fridley Public Schools, MN
Norwood City School District, OH
Ocean View School District, CA
Oxford School District, MS, in partnership with Whole Kids Foundation & The Gateway Fund
Staunton City Schools, VA, in partnership with Whole Kids Foundation & The Gateway Fund
Tempe Elementary School District, AZ
TheLunchBox.org
In partnership with the Chef Ann Foundation, the Life Time Foundation supports thelunchbox.org, which is a free online resource that provides tools and education to help improve school food. The Lunch Box offers more than 200 scalable and kid-tested recipes, menu cycle tools, financial management and procurement tools, training tools, marketing and educational materials, and more.
GET YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT ON BOARD
Let’s make school food healthy, fresh and nutritious. Let’s support a healthy school food program together. We invite school districts that meet the following minimum requirements to apply for consideration:
- Committed to reducing and removing the Harmful 7 Ingredients of Concern
- Participates in the USDA National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
- Support from key stakeholders to include Superintendent, Nutrition Director and parents
- Self-operating School Food Program
- District has at least one school within a 20-mile radius of a Life Time destination. For locations, visit lifetimefitness.com
