Bridgeport schools offer new cafeteria options in hopes of building healthy eating habits

Some students in Bridgeport are enjoying new options for healthy school lunch this week.

News 12 Staff

Feb 6, 2020, 12:33 AM

Updated 1,547 days ago

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Some students in Bridgeport are enjoying new options for healthy school lunch this week.
Geraldine Johnson School is the first school in Bridgeport to roll out a brand-new way to get kids excited about fruits, vegetables and dairy products.
The new healthy options are served from a bright red cart.
Depending on the day, the self-serve bar offers fruit and yogurt parfaits or specialty salads dreamed up by local chefs.
Principal Luisa Wolf says the salad bar has been a hit with some older students who all but skipped the school lunch before.
"A lot of them would come in and they'd grab like a milk or they'd grab an apple or a banana, but now they have multiple options,” Wolf says.
The new food options are all made possible by a grant from the New England Dairy Council.
"So we receive a grant of $20,000 for five school locations,” says Nichola Hall, the assistant director of food and nutrition for the district. She says the new program offers extra nutrition some students might not be getting at home.
"Like it or not, some of these kids, when they eat here, that's the only meal for the day,” Hall says. She adds that now they're building healthy habits she hopes will last the rest of their lives.
"We deserve so much better, and I think we are in a position to bring that to the city of Bridgeport,” Hall says.
 


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