New York City Mayor Bloomberg and TV personality Rachael Ray announce initiatives to promote healthy living

May 14th, 2010 - 12:54 am ICT by BNO News  

NEW YORK CITY (BNO NEWS) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and TV personality Rachael Ray on Thursday announced a series of programs and initiatives to promote healthy eating and nutrition education.

The new programs, supported by Rachael Ray and her Yum-o! organization, will help schools build a garden or connect them to an existing garden and provide cooking and nutrition to young New Yorkers. The announcement was made next to the vegetable garden at PS 29 in Brooklyn, which the school is using to teach students about healthy eating – in addition to enhancing science and nature curriculums.

“School gardens encourage more young New Yorkers to eat healthier diets and help them understand where their food comes from,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “From GreenThumb gardens to public housing gardens to countless community gardens, so many New Yorkers are greening our urban landscapes and greening their diets too. Our partnership with Rachael Ray will help children understand how eating fresh food and preparing their own meals can help them to lead longer, healthier lives.”

“We are very excited to form this public-private partnership with Mayor Bloomberg to help teach New York City youth where food comes from and in turn provide them with encouragement to make healthier choices,” said Ms. Ray. “In addition to empowering kids to cook and have a healthier relationship with food, these programs will also allow us to show kids how the culinary arts can be a positive career path, which is one of the major goals of our Yum-o! organization.”

This spring a new “Learning Garden” was also constructed in City Hall Park to show children first-hand how food is grown. The garden, which is currently growing snow peas, cabbage, kale, lettuces, kohlrabi, onions, and broccoli, is being tended and used by PS 276 and PS 397 located in the adjacent Tweed Courthouse building.

“Learning Gardens” have also been created at Randall’s Island and Gracie Mansion, where children from the Stanley Isaacs Community Center have been growing vegetables and receiving cooking instruction as part of “The Growing Place” project.

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