Serving children and teens in our 13-county service area has always been a top priority for Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB). Since 1993, we have done this by partnering with various schools, community organizations, churches, apartments, and healthcare organizations to offer programs that help meet their nutritional needs.
Our newest approach is developing programs to educate children and teens in our community, so they are better equipped to make healthier choices as they grow. The best way to do this is through nutrition and gardening education. Here is a glance at the new programming TAFB is developing to educate our youth:
Cooking and Gardening Workshops
Currently being offered through a virtual model, TAFB is facilitating workshops that educate children through age-appropriate curriculum. They learn about the health benefits of gardening and participate in gardening activities, and engage in hands-on cooking and nutrition activities, by making healthy snacks or tasty alternatives to regular sodas.
Summer Camps
In partnership with community organizations, TAFB is offering middle-school aged youth a weeklong, 3-hour/day camp experience offering hands-on gardening and cooking activities along with the opportunity to learn about how media can affect the choices they make in regard to nutrition and physical activity.
Youth Advisory Board
TAFB is developing a Youth Advisory Board which will be comprised of high school students and will aim to educate students how to identify and address food insecurity among their peers and stimulate ideas to address hunger in their schools and communities.
Farmers Market Nutrition Program
When low-income families have access to fresh, local produce, they can help their children eat healthier meals and support family farmers with their purchasing power. The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) provides low-income pregnant, post-partum and breastfeeding women and children ages 1-5 with vouchers to buy fresh produce from authorized farmers markets. The goals of the program are to increase participants’ consumption of fresh, local fruits and vegetables, increase the sales of local farmers, and expand the awareness and use of farmers markets.
Through TAFB’s Children Programming, children and teens learn:
- Essential gardening skills
- The importance of eating fruits and vegetables and staying physically active
- How to identify and prepare age-appropriate healthy recipes
- How the complex media world around them influences their choices and health
- How to be an advocate for food insecurity among peers
We are excited to bring these new opportunities to the community and strive to make an impact to lead children and teens in creating healthy habits to last a lifetime!
Get Involved
Interested in volunteering? Find opportunities here.
Want to support our programs? Donate here.
Looking for information on healthy habits? Check out our YouTube page and Recipe Library.
