Media Release

For Immediate Release

October launch for Lambton Kent Agriculture in the Classroom’s new ‘Healthy Eating Club’ pilot project!

October 2, 2009 (Ridgetown, ON) – Lambton Kent Agriculture in the Classroom’s (LKAITC) new Healthy Eating Club pilot project is scheduled to launch in two area schools this coming October, November and December. The two sites chosen for this project include London Road Public School in Sarnia, Ontario and Thamesville Area Central School in Thamesville, Ontario.

These clubs will target students in grades 6, 7 and 8 and will have a direct connection to those grades’ health curriculums. The goals of the clubs are to promote healthy eating while allowing students to try new things, to learn where their food comes from, and to understand the importance that agriculture plays in everyone’s daily lives.

Each of the pilot clubs will meet twice a week for a period of 8 weeks which totals 16 forty-minute sessions. Each week will focus on a specific food group and topic. One session per week will involve hands-on food preparation and sampling. The other session will have a producer/commodity/volunteer group delivering a positive message around the healthy eating of Ontario farm-grown products. Recipe cards and other resource materials will be organized in individual student binders which will become a personalized take-home resource book for each member of the club.

LKAITC is working together with associated project partners including: Lambton Kent District School Board, County of Lambton Community Health Services, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit, local producers and commodity groups and volunteer organizations. Funding for this project was provided in part by Ontario Agri-Food Education Inc.’s Healthy Eating Program.

The LKAITC committee is operated by volunteers as a non-profit organization delivering successful agricultural programs to local school children. Increasing awareness of the agri-food industry continues to be the mandate of the committee. Some of our projects include: school resource kits which has grown into a cooperative effort with the Science Education Partnership; implementation of the Spring Days (in Lambton) and Harvest Days (in Kent) where students explore agriculture by journeying through different agricultural stations; and, our annual gala fundraising dinner called ‘A Taste of Lambton-Kent’ which is always a success thanks to our strong supporters.

For more information:

Linda Bryson, Committee Member

Lambton Kent Agriculture in the Classroom (LKAITC)

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Website: http://www.lkaitc.org

Telephone: 519-828-3311