Kids Market aims to produce healthier eating habits | News, Sports, Jobs

Holly and Harvey Hickman use tokens by the Children Market @ The Retailer program being executed by the West Virginia College Extension Service to purchase recent produce at Ward’s Farm Market on Seventh Road in Parkersburg. (Photograph Offered)

PARKERSBURG — Children are studying the worth of consuming vegetables and fruit by a program by the WVU Extension Service as they can store for produce domestically.

The Children Market @ The Retailer program was created by the WVU Extension Household Vitamin Program and it permits children to buy free for vegetables and fruit at taking part retail places of their counties, mentioned Shaley Hughes, Well being Educator with the WVU Extension Service.

This system, which works from July 5 to Aug. 16, is funded by a number of sources together with Parkersburg Space Neighborhood Basis, Coplin Clinic and SNAP (Supplemental Vitamin Help Program). This system is open to households with children ages 2-17.

Every of the taking part households is given $30 in tokens to spend and every little one in every household will get a market bag and a passport (offered by funding by the Extension Service) in addition to a “I Love Greens” ebook.

“The children go into the shop they usually get to spend their tokens on produce that comes from native farmers,” Hughes mentioned. “They’re able to decide it out themselves.

Holly Hickman appears over produce accessible at Ward’s Farm Market on Seventh Road in Parkersburg. She is taking part within the Children Market @ The Retailer program being executed by the West Virginia College Extension Service. This system teaches children concerning the significance of consuming vegetables and fruit and instructing them about shopping for produce on the retailer. (Photograph Offered)

“The concept is to get them enthusiastic about it and to make wholesome selections and to make it life like in purchasing at a market.”

There are 315 households taking part in this system in Wooden County. The locations taking part are Ward’s Farm Market on Seventh Road and Save-A-Lot on Broadway Avenue.

This system is to get children and their households to consider consuming produce usually and it helps them to have the ability to make these selections on their very own.

“Typically children will eat what their mother and father eat,” Hughes mentioned. “This offers them the chance to decide on their very own (vegetables and fruit) and offers them the chance to attempt one thing they may not in any other case attempt.

“It additionally offers them shopping for energy.”

Holly and Harvey Hickman are wanting by produce at Ward’s Farmers Market in Seventh Road in Parkersburg. They’re taking part within the Children Market @ The Retailer program being executed by the West Virginia College Extension Service. This system train children about consuming more healthy and about shopping for produce on the retailer. (Photograph Offered)

This system helps not solely feed the households, however can be educating households about the advantages of the vegetables and fruit. This system additionally options recipe playing cards and cooking demonstrations for the recipes.

The retail shops will select the sorts of produce they may make accessible, however Hughes mentioned will probably be lots of typical sorts together with tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, apples, broccoli, plums and extra.

“The folks on the shops have been actually useful and taking lots of this on themselves,” Hughes mentioned.

Nationally, West Virginia has the third highest fee of weight problems in kids proper now.

This system was a pilot program final yr. Throughout the faculty yr it supplied quite a few pop-up farmers markets at space faculties. Throughout the summer season, it isn’t round to work together with the youngsters in that method.

Holly and Harvey Hickman are wanting by produce at Ward’s Farmers Market in Seventh Road in Parkersburg. They’re taking part within the Children Market @ The Retailer program being executed by the West Virginia College Extension Service. This system train children about consuming more healthy and about shopping for produce on the retailer. (Photograph Offered)

“We wished to fill within the hole through the summer season months and to get them to proceed to attempt new issues,” Hughes mentioned. “It was open to everybody as there was no revenue requirement.

“The concept of wholesome consuming, we have to instill that with everybody.”

Brett Dunlap might be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com