SNAP project catches on in the Southwest - School Nutrition Action Project

Food and Nutrition, Jan, 1986 by C. Kay Blakley

The positive attitude came through loud and clear for Jan Jones, chief of the school nutrition programs unit for the Food and Nutrition Service's Southwest region, when she visited Albuquerque for a first-hand look at SNAP in action.

Part of the beauty of the project, says Jones, is its simplicity. "The menu modifications the schools are making are quick and easy. They boil down to simply incorporating the dietary guidelines into their menu-planning process.

"This is really nothing new," she adds, "because the dietary guidelines have been part of the school lunch menu planning guide for several years. SNAP, however, gives the concept a keener focus.

"Albuquerque schools have also taken full advantage of parent and student involvement in the project and are indirectly using it as a marketing tool. The end result is increased stature for school lunch in the community. They seem to be reaping enormous benefits from making a few simple changes."

Taking the idea

to the states

Jones and others at the regional office level were convinced this was an idea other school district could use. They felt they could do regionally what Adkins had done in Albuquerque--that is, make the SNAP concept known, offer assistance if needed, then wait for interest to be shown.

They began by presenting the SNAP concept to state directors of school nutrition and food distribution programs and incorporating the directos' suggestions into an overall project design.

They kept the three components of SNAP--menu modification, parent and student involvement, and nutrition education--but wrote SNAP objectives broadly enough to accommodate differences among states and shools.

To help communities learn about and use the project, the regional staff developed a slide and tape presentation and a prototype press packet for use by both state agencies and local school districts.

The slide-tape series, in addition to explaining what SNAP is, explores how eating habits are developed and how research is now showing that our health may be related to our dietary habits.

The prototype press packet provides a sample news release, two taped public service announcements that can be reproduced and distributed locally, sample fact sheets, and a few important tips on planning a successful publicity campaign or media event, such as inviting local reporters to join students for a SNAP lunch.

To encourage idea-sharing, Jones and her stafff put together a bulletin called "SNAP-Shots." A concise summary of SNAP activities occurring at the state and local levels. "SNAP-Shots" is distributed periodically throughout the Southwest region.

State respond

in various ways

As Jones explains, each state agency's approach to SNAP has been different." Some, like the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, which administers the private school programs, liked what they saw, trained their food service personnel during summer workshops, and implemented the concept with the opening of school this fall."

The education departments in Louisiana and New Mexico presented the SNAP concept this spring and summer at school food service association conventions and other meetings and workshops for local school food service personnel.