Guest Blogger
Theresa Pileggi
Theresa Pileggi is the founder and director of Let’s Talk Lunch, a network of parents and educators interested in nutrition and children’s health. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, the group serves as an information clearinghouse and support system for schools and parents embarking on school food reform.
In 2005, Let’s Talk Lunch held a conference which convened parents, educators and administrators to spotlight local and national innovators in the school food arena. Keynote speaker Dr. Alan Greene gave a rousing address on the link between nutrition and children’s health. He was joined by a team whose conversion of an alternative school to an all-natural, whole foods menu was featured in the 2004 movie Super Size Me. Lee Allinger, Superintendent of Wisconsin’s Appleton Area School District, spoke to the challenges and successes of their initiative and their plans to grow the program to the entire district. The inspired audience was then treated to displays of products created by local supermarkets and specialty stores ("designed to bridge the gap between what we now know about nutrition and what we actually feed our kids."). There was also a recipe swap, the earliest version of our resource library, and a sample school garden program.
Theresa Pileggi is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Villanova School of Law.
Make Good Use of the Time In-Between
Towards the end of 2002, my sister sent me the transcript of Dr. Philip Landrigan’s Congressional testimony on Environmental Threats to Children’s Health in America’s Schools. He carefully coupled his assertion that schools should be free from environmental threats like lead, asbestos and pesticides with an assurance that tested measures could be implemented to minimize [...]
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Don’t Reinvent the Meal-Wheel
Success begets success. And the good news for school food advocates today is that there are fabulously successful, comprehensive programs all across the country that we can spotlight and model. Chef Bobo continues to do great things at The Calhoun School in New York, Revolution Foods is expanding their innovative venture, Jamie Oliver has brought [...]
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Beware the Emotion: Food is Personal
Years ago, when I first approached school administrators about their food policy, I took for granted that logic and science would inform and direct their decisions. It seemed a fair assumption in light of their thoughtful treatment of other issues – from faculty selection to curriculum development to security policy to athletic schedules. But while [...]
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Lead with the Definitions: What is Healthy?
I’m a mission statement person. I find that the more work you do at the front end of program development – mission statement, definitions and goals – the easier things flow through implementation. If you’re entering the school food arena now, the good news is that you’ve got a plethora of thoughtful, nuanced and tested [...]
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I Never Intended to Be a “Food Mom.”
In human rights work, it’s called the “moment of obligation” – the moment when some story, some person’s pain, some injustice strikes your heart in a way that defines it as your own. Immediately thereafter comes the realization that you simply must do something about it.
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