Wilkes Community
Partnership for Children has a recognition program for child care
teachers based on observations by the Partnership staff of
outstanding achievement in child care. Each month a teacher is
presented with a door plaque with the teacher’s name in
appreciation for the dedication to the children they serve. In
February, Ms. Kelly Brewer was chosen as the recipient. Ms. Brewer is
the “Kitchen Manager” at Easter Seals UCP Woodlawn Children’s
Center and has been since December 2010. As Kitchen Manager, Ms.
Brewer is responsible for planning menus for
breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack, as well
as inventory, purchasing, and other duties. As a participating
center, this must be accomplished while keeping within strict
guidelines and regulations for the child care food program. Ms.
Brewer plans and serves lunch menus that are catered to the center
and prepares and serves breakfast and afternoon snack.
Child
care centers last year employed an intervention called NAP-SACC ,
which stands for “Nutrition and Physical Activity Self - Assessment
for Child Care”. NAP-SACC was developed at UNC-Chapel Hill in
response to the North Carolina Healthy Weight Initiative for Children
as an “obesity prevention” model. Centers assess how they are
doing compared to best practice standards in the areas of nutrition
and physical activity and where changes can and should be made, then
seek to implement them. Using NAP-SACC as a model, Ms. Brewer became
interested in creating healthier menus and experimenting with new
ideas for breakfast and snack. She attended a training last Fall
sponsored by the Child and Adult Food Program of NC called “Building
A Better Menu.” The training inspired her to delve further into
creative ideas that would improve food quality and nutrition and
introduce children to new choices. Melinda Swofford, Child Care
Health Consultant with Wilkes Community Partnership for Children
stated “It is important to inspire children to make internal
choices toward a healthier lifestyle. We do this by introducing them
consistently to healthy ideas and concepts, as well as modeling
behaviors that support these concepts. Ms. Brewer is making strides
toward “best practice” in the area of nutrition and we are very
proud of that.”
Wilkes Community
Partnership for Children, a local Smart Start agency, is a United Way
funded agency.
