TUCSON, Ariz. (January 05, 2009) (NaturalNews) The Consumer Wellness Center, led by Executive Director Mike Adams (editor of NaturalNews) has announced a second grant in its Nutrition Grant Program. The Consumer Wellness Center (CWC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to promoting nutritional education. The Executive Director position is a non-paid position.

Our Nutrition Grant Program awards $1,000 grants to individuals or institutions that can put the money towards the sharing of nutritional knowledge among children, expectant mothers or other important groups.

The grants are awarded based on the number of people that can be positively impacted, the detail of the grant proposal and the enthusiasm and commitment of the teacher or administrator who will use the funds. Each award recipient is asked to report the results of the grant back to the CWC after the funds have been used. Our intention is to then post these nutrition "success stories" on NaturalNews.com so that these records of what works can be shared with the world.

Farm to School Program receives $1,000 from the CWC

Our second well-deserved Consumer Wellness Nutritional Grant Award is awarded to The Corvallis Environmental Center for their "Farm to School Program."

The Corvallis Environmental Center (CEC) in Corvallis, Oregon is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission of providing sustainability education and information to area residents.
This grassroots organization is working tirelessly in many, many was to raise awareness about the importance of supporting our earth through practical application projects, such as the support of local growers as well as the proper nourishment of our schoolchildren.

The Farm to School program helps local schools purchase and feature locally produced, farm fresh foods. Schools then incorporate these foods into a nutrition-based curriculum and provide students with experiential learning opportunities such as farm visits, school garden programs and produce tasting. In essence, Farm to School provides a model for positively influencing children's eating habits through school cafeteria improvements, hands-on nutrition education and direct experience with real food.

By providing food and nutrition learning opportunities to the students, the CEC staff found that students were encouraged to make healthier food choices on their own. The efforts also reinforced the school district's commitment to purchase fresh, local foods -- a hearty win/win for everyone in the community.

With the Nutritional Grant from the Consumer Wellness Center, the CEC will be able to

1) Provide six additional tasting tables that feature fresh produce from local farms

2) Provide teachers with easy-to-use information and activities about the fresh foods featured at each tasting table.

The tasting tables encourage students to try fresh foods and give them an opportunity to meet the farmer who grew the food.

In all, this is a fabulous educational and experiential opportunity for a large number of students to learn about real food: Where it comes from, what it looks like, how it supports their health, etc. With the additional $1,000 provided by the CWC, this program will reach 1100 to 1400 K-8th grade students in up to 4 schools in the region, and facilitate fresh veggie & fruit event once per month throughout the school year.

" We are thrilled to support the CEC's efforts to teach schoolchildren about real food," said Mike Adams, the Executive Director of the Consumer Wellness Center and the creator of the Nutrition Grant Program. "This is the kind of activity that's needed throughout modern society to reconnect children with food and health. I hope this becomes a model of food education that's replicated throughout the nation."

The CEC has committed to connecting with you, our readers, by sending us photographs of the children experiencing the events, information regarding the children's food experiences, teachers' feedback and any positive response from the local growers.

" I just wanted to update you on the exciting progress we are making as we begin a new school year. Our goal was to expand our program of holding monthly tasting tables of local, fresh produce at Corvallis public schools -- and it is happening! So far this year we have 5 of the 8 elementary schools participating, and we hope that the other 3 will begin in the next few months. The School District's Food and Nutrition Services is 100% in support of the program, and is helping us out by distributing food samples through its central kitchen, and even offering to prepare food when necessary in their certified kitchen. Parent and school volunteers are staffing the tables, which keeps the program local and our costs down.

Thank you again for your support; the funding we received from Consumer Wellness Center was so helpful in launching us along this path."

Congratulations to the Farm to School Program Director, Jen Brown and staff at the Corvallis Environmental Center for your continued and successful efforts to support the health of our school children, the local growers, and our planet!

Check out their website at www.CorvallisEnvironmentalCenter.org

NaturalNews also thanks the many sponsors of the Consumer Wellness Center who have donated funds to help us launch these important nutritional programs. Sponsors include Boku Superfood, Global Healing Center, Health Products Distributors, Inc. and others. View featured sponsors at www.ConsumerWellness.org

About Consumer Wellness Center
The Consumer Wellness Center (http://www.ConsumerWellness.org) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on educational initiatives that empower consumers with knowledge and wisdom on disease prevention, nutrition, peak mental and physical health and natural health modalities. The center sells no vitamins, supplements, foods or medical products, and earns no commissions from the sale of such products.

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