Three years ago, staff at the Shoreline/South County Family YMCA had an idea. They watched parents sweep in to the YMCA’s program site at Beverly Elementary School to pick up their kids at the end of a long day, then head home, exhausted and hungry.
An easy solution to dinner for these harried parents was to pick up a fast food meal. The YMCA staff figured there had to be a way to help families eat a healthier dinner—and spend a bit more time together. They came up with a program called Make and Take Meals.
The concept is simple: Once a month, kids in the YMCA’s child care program spend time learning about nutrition and how to prepare a healthy meal. Then, when their parents come to pick them up, the family assembles the ingredients for a nutritious dinner. The family leaves with a simple and healthy meal to enjoy at home together.
The Make and Take Meals program quickly became popular with parents and has since expanded to five other YMCA program sites in north King County.
“This is my favorite activity that the YMCA provides, because it lets me give my child the time, energy and money that I would be using for a dinner,” says Julie England, whose daughter is in the YMCA’s program. “The meals came on nights when I was running to pick up my daughter after work before taking her to an extracurricular activity. We had more time to spend with each other and didn’t have to go to fast food for a quick dinner. As a single working parent, I could always use things like these to make my life easier.”
The program fits nicely with the YMCA’s national “Activate America” initiative to raise awareness and stop the nation’s trend of high obesity rates in youth and adults. In Washington state, adult obesity rates have more than doubled between 1990 (9%) and 2004 (22%). Nearly 11 percent of our state’s youth ages 10-17 are overweight.
Through the YMCA’s program, staff helped families assemble more than 1,300 healthy meals last year. Make and Take Meals, which is free to families, is offered at six child care program sites through the Shoreline/South County Family YMCA.
“Our goal with Make and Take Meals is to encourage families to try healthy foods and to spend more time together, which includes sitting down to dinner,” said Courtney Whitaker, branch executive of the Shoreline/South County Family YMCA. “A bonus is that we’ve found that kids really like being part of preparing dinner and are even teaching their parents about healthy eating.”
With the opening of the new 52,000-square-foot Dale Turner Family YMCA in Shoreline next fall, even more families will be able to participate in healthy eating programs. The new facility will include a full teaching kitchen, allowing the YMCA to expand its nutrition and healthy cooking programs in the area.
For more information about the YMCA of Greater Seattle, visit www.seattleymca.org
