A Healthy Harvest for Delaware's Kids

I met Thianda Manzara, Ph.D., in the restroom at a grant workshop at Delaware State University. She said she was the Executive Director of Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, and I freaked out. I had been on her website not long before, and said, "I have to interview you!" After I explained to her about this blog project, she was excited. For our interview, we met at the St. Jones Reserve in Dover which, I discovered, has perhaps the world's largest and most diverse population of green head flies that I've ever seen. (I'm still scratching.)

Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids is Thianda's brainchild. She wanted to teach kids about agriculture. Herself a former professor of biology with a background in agronomy (the study of how things grow), Thianda had a passion for gardening and good food. Thianda says, "I had an idea, but I didn't think it would work." After hearing about and visiting a California program called "The Edible Schoolyard", which was all about teaching children about agriculture, she said, "There's no reason we can't do this in Delaware." So, she began to build  Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids with the intent to provide children with an education about food, science, and gardening. "I wanted kids to know where their food comes from, and that vegetables can be delicious!" Springer Middle School was the first to sign up, and the program grew from there. The organization attained nonprofit status in 2008.

Thianda now serves as the volunteer Executive Director and Founder for Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids. The program, which is now based in 11 Delaware schools (with two more coming this year), provides teachers with a ready-made gardening program in which the entire school can participate. Children in each grade assume responsibility for different tasks within the garden - whether it be planting or watering or tilling - and they harvest their own vegetables. Each class has a special job to do. Thianda loves to see the children's "delight and discovery over what grows from a seed, and to see that it looks just like what they get at the grocery store." By teaching them to be curious about their food, they are improving their health. And once the program is begun, it is self-sustainable, in other words, the teachers continue the program for the children over the course of the school year.

One child, a seven-year-old from Downs Elementary, worked in the garden growing radishes (among other things). After they were washed, he popped one into his mouth, and it was true love. He went home and asked his mom to give him radishes as a reward for doing well, then he started his own radish garden at home. "I love that he discovered that he loved something that was good for him," Thianda said, "It shows the program really works." The principals, she says, have said the program has made a huge positive impact on their schools.

I ask, "How has your life been impacted by serving your community?" She smiles, and thinks a few seconds. "I am so happy to share the things that I love with children. I love to educate people on something that is really important to their health."

My ten bucks will allow Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids to maintain their program. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit has just one paid staff member and no office, and (as is typical of most Executive Directors), Thianda's small car is filled with the tools of her trade. "We don't have a lot of [overhead] expenses. Even small donations make a big impact. With ten bucks, we can buy seeds for a garden, tools for a student, or one teacher kit."


If more people donated their ten bucks, Thianda says, "We could serve more schools. We have eleven so far, and we're added two more this year, but there are at least eight other schools on the waiting list. We can't accommodate them because we don't have enough people to do the work." Thianda would like to have more employees to make the program more sustainable. She's received some funding through the schools for the programs, and a grant from DOW, but she needs continued support from the community to keep the program growing.

To me, Thianda is the perfect example of someone who saw the opportunity to make a difference, created a program that addressed the issues, and put it into place. Thianda is as "grassroots" as it gets.

I hope you'll choose to support Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids. Send your contribution to Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids at P.O. Box 847, Hockessin DE 19707. You can read more about the nonprofit on their web site at http://healthyfoodsforhealthykids.giving.officelive.com.

My Ten Bucks matters, and so does yours.