Hundreds of youngsters picked out their own produce Thursday morning at the YMCA of Centre County’s latest Children’s Farmers Market.
More than 300 kids and their families turned out for the event held outside the State College Area School District Delta building, a number that wowed Mel Curtis, director of the YMCA’s anti-hunger programs.
Asked if it was more than he expected, Curtis said, “It really was,” with a chuckle. He noted that the market was the first held in partnership with SCASD, and that the school district to a good job of promoting the event.
Six volunteers assisted with the market, which offered fresh fruits and vegetables supplied by the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank at no cost to the Y Anti-Hunger Program.
Kids were each given 10 “Y Bucks” to purchase food.
“We give the kids play money. They get $10, and then everything is priced so the kids come through and they have to figure out,” Curtis said. “They’ve got to use their math, what they can get for their money. They just walk down and pick things, put it in a bag and pay for it. It’s really cool. The kids love it.”
The next Children’s Farmers Market will be held at noon on Monday at Wingate Elementary School, where Penn State Lady Lion basketball players will be on hand to help out and meet kids.
It will be held in connection with the Y’s Summer Grocery Giveaway, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s SUN Meals To-Go program to provide summer meals to children in rural communities. USDA and state agriculture and education officials will be on hand for the event.
“The USDA, they changed up a lot of the regulations and stuff so we could go to bulk feeding where a family would come in just once a week to get food for their kids and they get two meals per day, breakfast and a lunch,” Curtis said. “When they had to come in every day, a lot of kids didn’t have transportation and it was absolutely crazy. So this is a really great program that they’re doing now.”
The Children’s Farmers Market, meanwhile, is made possible by the Jack Gido Food Awareness Tour, which provides free classes for kids to learn how to prepare healthy and nutritious foods with support from the Jack Gido family.
“It’s just a way to get kids, get them meeting new kids and actually making sure kids are getting food and the right kinds of food,” Curtis said.
During one class, children learned how to chop vegetables properly. In a weekly food prep class, they learned how to prepare vegetables and other nutritious foods in a Crockpot, then got a new Crockpot to take home.
“We did a cooking class. with them and they all made their own lasagnas,” Curtis said. “They did it in bread loaf pans. They were led but everyone you looked at was completely different. That’s really cool. It was pretty neat.”
