Community Services offers a comprehensive system of child nutrition services for low-income children and families for preventing health and nutrition problems, and intervening promptly when they exist. We help create the environment that children need to be active and healthy, and involve parents in all aspects of service delivery, from planning to implementation. We also collaborate with other agencies to provide a broader spectrum of services, and serve on task forces and research studies to prevent childhood obesity, anemia and wider prevalence of other health and nutrition problems.

Some of the Nutrition Services:

• Individual nutrition counseling by a Registered Dietitian to families with children at nutritional risk
• Classroom lesson plans involving health and nutrition
• Field trips, class cooking projects, visits from community helpers
• Nutrition education at workshops, parent meetings and through menus and newsletters
• Menu preparation promoting multiculturalism
• Free meals for enrolled children

Our department provides high quality, nutritionally balanced meals to children while they're attending the center. The food program is funded in part by the Federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

All meals are served Family Style. The children help set the table, serve themselves, clean up spills and scrape their dishes. This helps develop personal responsibility. The teachers eat with the children and model appropriate behavior. During the meals the children learn about food and healthy eating habits as well as socialization, self-sufficiency, and manners.