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The Love Your Veggies™ campaign has received support from the following organization
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The School Nutrition Foundation More Here » |
The deadline for this year’s application has now passed. These guidelines are meant to serve as a reference about the application process. We encourage schools to check LoveYourVeggies.com periodically and to keep their eyes and ears open for future Love Your Veggies™ campaign programs.
Millions of students across America consume meals at school daily. For many children, school lunch is the most important meal of the day, contributing one-third of their nutritional intake, according to the USDA1 . Recognizing that schools, educators and school food service staff are dedicated to supporting improved children’s nutrition, the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings, in partnership with the School Nutrition Foundation want to help schools improve children’s nutrition.
In a 2006 study with two Northern California elementary schools conducted by the University of California Davis Department of Nutrition, California Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and Butte County Cooperative Extension, children consumed more vegetables when paired with a moderate amount of ranch dressing. In celebration of children’s love of vegetables with ranch dressing, the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings are awarding ten (10) ten thousand dollar ($10,000) grants to elementary schools across the United States to support programs that help provide students with increased access to, and consumption of fresh, healthy foods made available through an on-campus vegetable consumption program.
Each grant award will support an elementary school in developing a vegetable program offering fresh produce to be implemented as early as April 2010 and lasting through the 2010-2011 school year. Each school grant will consist of $10,000 in direct funding.*
Funding must be spent on any of the following:
All applications must be submitted via the grant program’s Web site, www.LoveYourVeggies.com. Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Nov. 6, 2009. Late applications will not be accepted. Schools will be notified of their award status soon after Feb. 15, 2010, with a target date of no later than March 1, 2009. A public announcement of all 10 winners will be made in April 2010.
*Purchase of Hidden Valley® dressings and products will not be required
Application Requirements
Proposed Program
Applications should briefly and adequately convey the specifics of how the proposed vegetable program would work. Details such as how the program will be implemented, where fresh produce will be procured, number of students participating, monetary cost to students, method of assuring standards of food safety, proposed nutrition education tools and materials, elements of community involvement and plan for sustainability must all be addressed. Schools may use the program to enhance national school lunch program offerings.
Elements of a successful grant application include: innovative/new ways to increase vegetable consumption; student, parent and school personnel involvement in all phases of the program; nutrition education component; plan for sustainability; opportunity for community involvement.
Detailed Budget
Applicants will be required to provide a detailed budget justification allotting monies for the following allowable expenses: fresh produce; kitchen or vegetable station equipment; cost of food for recipe demonstrations/taste testing that promotes healthy food (vegetables); cost for food samples associated with nutrition education activities; purchase of nutrition education materials; staff time to prepare, serve and clean-up food for vegetable stations; demonstrations and/or taste testing purposes; refreshments for student, parent, school personnel meetings related to the project.
All equipment must be reasonable, necessary and integral to the project. Kitchen appliances may be purchased only with justification of reasonable and necessary need.
Applicants must also budget between $100 and $300 for access to and completion of any one of the following SNA-approved Food Safety and Sanitation courses: Serving It Safe (SNA/SNF/USDA), ServeSafe (NRA), Sanitation and Safety Exam with Dietary Managers Association (DMA), NEHA Food Safety Management Principles Certification Training Course, or any other SNA-approved state association course, if not already food safety certified by the School Nutrition Association.
Evaluation and Reporting
Each grant recipient must complete brief questionnaires provided by the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings to report on the progress of their vegetable program implementation by the first of the following months: October 2010, February 2011 and May 2011. Information such as vegetable consumption increases or decreases, number of students participating in vegetable program, and general attitude of students and staff toward vegetable program will be necessary for the completion of said questionnaires.
Judging
Grant awards will be based on proposals that demonstrate: need (need for funding, youths’ nutrition needs, students underserved by existing programs); innovation (innovative, appropriate and creative evaluation methods, innovative enhancement of existing support or program, inventive program scope); greatest likelihood of sustainable impact on the students they are serving (well-chosen, measurable goals, cost effective i.e., number of youth served related to budget, and low administrative costs, program scope, likelihood of sustainability once the grant period is over); and potential for community involvement (opportunity for members of the community to participate in the preparation, implementation and sustenance of proposed program).
Based on these criteria, the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings, in their sole discretion and upon the recommendation by its partner, the School Nutrition Association, will award ten (10) ten thousand dollar ($10,000) grants.
1USDA Study released January 2001
Millions of students across America consume meals at school daily. For many children, school lunch is the most important meal of the day, contributing one-third of their nutritional intake, according to the USDA1 . Recognizing that schools, educators and school food service staff are dedicated to supporting improved children’s nutrition, the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings, in partnership with the School Nutrition Foundation want to help schools improve children’s nutrition.
In a 2006 study with two Northern California elementary schools conducted by the University of California Davis Department of Nutrition, California Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and Butte County Cooperative Extension, children consumed more vegetables when paired with a moderate amount of ranch dressing. In celebration of children’s love of vegetables with ranch dressing, the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings are awarding ten (10) ten thousand dollar ($10,000) grants to elementary schools across the United States to support programs that help provide students with increased access to, and consumption of fresh, healthy foods made available through an on-campus vegetable consumption program.
Each grant award will support an elementary school in developing a vegetable program offering fresh produce to be implemented as early as April 2010 and lasting through the 2010-2011 school year. Each school grant will consist of $10,000 in direct funding.*
Funding must be spent on any of the following:
- Fresh produce (vegetables and fruits)
- A vegetable station
- Kitchen equipment (primary usage must relate to proposed program)
- Program staffing (cafeteria personnel, lunchroom staff, etc.)
- Nutrition education supplies [School Nutrition Association (www.schoolnutrition.org) preferred]
- Food Safety Training – each grant recipient must budget between $100 and $300 for access to and completion of any one of the following SNA-approved Food Safety and Sanitation courses: Serving It Safe (SNA/ SNF/USDA), ServeSafe (NRA), Sanitation and Safety Exam with Dietary Managers Association (DMA), NEHA Food Safety Management Principles Certification Training Course, or any other SNA-approved state association course, if not already food safety certified by the School Nutrition Association.
All applications must be submitted via the grant program’s Web site, www.LoveYourVeggies.com. Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Nov. 6, 2009. Late applications will not be accepted. Schools will be notified of their award status soon after Feb. 15, 2010, with a target date of no later than March 1, 2009. A public announcement of all 10 winners will be made in April 2010.
*Purchase of Hidden Valley® dressings and products will not be required
Application Requirements
- School must have an approved Local Wellness Policy in place as of July 1, 2006.
- School must be an elementary school serving children within grades K-6. Schools may serve additional grades.
- School representative must fully and accurately complete the Love Your Veggies online application, found at www.LoveYourVeggies.com.
- The applicant agrees, should it be chosen for a grant, that it will cooperate with the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings in the preparation of any press releases relating to the program, including providing permission to use quotes from school officials and images of the school and students in the press release and on Hidden Valley Web sites and as part of it’s social media efforts.
- Schools must have sign-off from principal, school foodservice/nutrition director and district contact (superintendent or communications director).
Proposed Program
Applications should briefly and adequately convey the specifics of how the proposed vegetable program would work. Details such as how the program will be implemented, where fresh produce will be procured, number of students participating, monetary cost to students, method of assuring standards of food safety, proposed nutrition education tools and materials, elements of community involvement and plan for sustainability must all be addressed. Schools may use the program to enhance national school lunch program offerings.
Elements of a successful grant application include: innovative/new ways to increase vegetable consumption; student, parent and school personnel involvement in all phases of the program; nutrition education component; plan for sustainability; opportunity for community involvement.
Detailed Budget
Applicants will be required to provide a detailed budget justification allotting monies for the following allowable expenses: fresh produce; kitchen or vegetable station equipment; cost of food for recipe demonstrations/taste testing that promotes healthy food (vegetables); cost for food samples associated with nutrition education activities; purchase of nutrition education materials; staff time to prepare, serve and clean-up food for vegetable stations; demonstrations and/or taste testing purposes; refreshments for student, parent, school personnel meetings related to the project.
All equipment must be reasonable, necessary and integral to the project. Kitchen appliances may be purchased only with justification of reasonable and necessary need.
Applicants must also budget between $100 and $300 for access to and completion of any one of the following SNA-approved Food Safety and Sanitation courses: Serving It Safe (SNA/SNF/USDA), ServeSafe (NRA), Sanitation and Safety Exam with Dietary Managers Association (DMA), NEHA Food Safety Management Principles Certification Training Course, or any other SNA-approved state association course, if not already food safety certified by the School Nutrition Association.
Evaluation and Reporting
Each grant recipient must complete brief questionnaires provided by the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings to report on the progress of their vegetable program implementation by the first of the following months: October 2010, February 2011 and May 2011. Information such as vegetable consumption increases or decreases, number of students participating in vegetable program, and general attitude of students and staff toward vegetable program will be necessary for the completion of said questionnaires.
Judging
Grant awards will be based on proposals that demonstrate: need (need for funding, youths’ nutrition needs, students underserved by existing programs); innovation (innovative, appropriate and creative evaluation methods, innovative enhancement of existing support or program, inventive program scope); greatest likelihood of sustainable impact on the students they are serving (well-chosen, measurable goals, cost effective i.e., number of youth served related to budget, and low administrative costs, program scope, likelihood of sustainability once the grant period is over); and potential for community involvement (opportunity for members of the community to participate in the preparation, implementation and sustenance of proposed program).
Based on these criteria, the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings, in their sole discretion and upon the recommendation by its partner, the School Nutrition Association, will award ten (10) ten thousand dollar ($10,000) grants.
1USDA Study released January 2001
