Milk Week of Action Follow Up

Milk Week Of Action Follow Up

Thu 17 Nov 2011

Story by The Food Revolution Team
 

School Food Revolution Starts With Milk



Nationwide, this was an amazing first-ever Flavored Milk Week of Action! Activities took place from Florida to Ohio, California to Hawaii. There are now nearly 1,000 members in the Food Revolution's stealth group of milk leaders. Their call - to jumpstart conversations about hidden forms of sugar and artificial additives and ask for the elimination of flavored, sugary milk this school year. Pure milk is about to make a huge comeback.

This week launched the effort to gather forces and get their voices heard. Food Revolution milk leaders used the Flavored Milk Week of Action to create flyers, get petitions signed, and call for meetings with school officials.

Stories From The Week



One of the most spirited local Flavored Milk Week of Action events was led by a high school group in Haymarket, Virginia, called Physical Health and Development. Led by Battlefield High School junior Jaehoon Lee, the Club made posters and signed petitions calling for the comeback of pure milk:

"We are promoting the Milk movement in our high school!… we [had] signup sheets and fliers for students during lunch. Our members are very excited!"

They also made a fun short video featuring forty of their fellow BHS students who each proclaimed, “I love white milk!" in their own unique voice. You can see it here. Next, the Physical Health and Development group plans to schedule visits to their local elementary schools to spread the Food Revolution message and help build a vegetable garden at their school.

Images From The Milk Day of Action in June

Other students also got involved with the Milk Week of Action. Bella, an eleven-year-old blogger issued a challenge in her Milk Week of Action post:

"If you are a kid, try going this whole week without any flavored milk at school--drink plain milk. If you're a parent, please encourage your kids to only drink plain milk at school this week.”

Pure milk challenges and crowd-sourcing were used by other Food Revolutionaries as well. In Honolulu, HI, Hazel Ito is working with the school nutrition staff to consider ways of phasing out flavored milk, and has inspired the school principal to get involved.

“Our principal has put a poll for students on the website asking them what kind of beverage they have with their school lunch...it is not a scientific poll or anything, but it is nice just to get the dialog going and have a response from the kids too, so I'm thrilled she is trying to support this as much as she feels she can.”



And in Lake Tahoe School District, one culinary arts teacher started a petition to eliminate flavored milk from his high school using change.org, a free internet-based petition service.

With such great starts, the milk revolution is off and running. Pat in Cleveland, Ohio used the week to collect information and create a packet of material to present at her PTA meeting. Afterwards, she told us:

"The meeting went very well, I thought. I passed out a one-page flyer with my info and the JOFR website. Parents had questions and were very encouraging. There are plans to continue!”

Next, she will hold her second milk action meeting in early December at the local Chipotle Mexican Grill, our in-kind milk action food sponsor.

What’s Next?



If you have something to share about your Milk Week of Action or how to begin an effort in your area, email us here, flavoredmilk@jamieoliverfoodfoundation.org or post to our exclusive Milk Action Facebook Group.

Join and work with us as we take the next steps this school year to help turn your school into a pure milk zone. The Food Revolution milk leaders are here to help. Start by using the resources we've created for you, at our Milk HQ and our exclusive FB group, and if you have a Chipotle Mexican Grill in your area, we can ask them to cater your next milk planning meeting, too. Lunch is on us!!

With such a strong start, the challenge will be to see how many can succeed getting school official to make the switch this school year. But whatever you do, The Milk Week of Action proves that nothing is too small; in fact, it's a collection of small actions that lead to great change.

The Food Revolution Team