Fundraisers & School Wellness Policies

Buckboard News Release 

Sisters, OR—A new report from the Institute of Medicine urges an end to the availability of soft drinks, sugary snacks and other junk food in schools--including classroom birthday parties.  Oregon lawmakers just passed House Bill 2650 requiring minimum nutrition standards for foods sold during school hours, and are pushing legislation to restore more P.E. in schools.  And the proposed federal Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2007 would sharply curtail junk food sold in public schools.

All these policy initiatives are meant to combat the problem of childhood obesity.  To date, unhealthy foods sold as part of school fundraisers have not been banned. (Fundraisers may get an exemption from the Child Nutrition Act.)

But schools may want to think ahead.  The research is in: good nutrition is linked to better behavior and academic performance.  Schools have a critical role to play in reducing childhood obesity.  And to provide the best possible learning environment for children, more schools are extending their commitment to teaching healthy behaviors by requiring healthy fundraisers as part of their Wellness Policies.  (Since 2006, a formal Wellness Policy has been required of any school participating in the National School Lunch Program.) Examples:

1. A recent report (“A Foundation for the Future,” School Nutrition Association, October 2006) found that of the Wellness Policies in the 100 school districts with the highest enrollment in the nation (representing 23% of K-12 students):
a. 93% address nutrition standards for a la carte foods and beverages;
b. 92% address nutrition standards for foods and beverages available in vending machines;
c. 63% address nutrition standards/guidelines for classroom celebrations or parties; and
d. 65% address nutrition standards/guidelines for fundraisers held during school hours.

2. The model Wellness Policy developed jointly by the Oregon Department of Education and school board members urges schools to:
a. Provide an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity;
b. Make school-based marketing consistent with nutrition education and health promotion;
c. Promote healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables and whole grains;
d. Limit or eliminate sale of low-nutrition foods both during school and at school-sponsored events;
e. Put the nutritional needs of students ahead of profit generation from food sales;
f. Decline to run fundraisers based on candy, junk foods, and sweetened beverages; and
g. Limit food marketing at school—including fundraisers--to foods and brands that meet nutrition standards.

3. One Wellness Policy recommendation from the Oregon Nutrition Policy Alliance (ONPA), a statewide coalition of health and student advocacy groups, states, "School Fundraising activities will not involve food or will use only foods that meet the nutrition and portion size standards for foods and beverages sold individually."

An Oregon company, Buckboard Provisioning Co., provides a profitable solution for organizations wishing to extend wellness principles to their fundraisers.  “Schools have recognized the need to walk the walk when it comes to getting kids to practice healthy eating habits,” says Buckboard CEO Rob Corrigan.  “Applying what is taught in health class to everything the school does, including fundraising, is a logical next step to reinforce these positive lessons.”

Buckboard sells four families of products:
1. Nine types of unique, easy-to-bake batter bread mixes including pumpkin, zucchini and blueberry buckwheat pancakes.  Almost all include a real fruit or vegetable to add to the whole grain mixes, and include natural sweeteners such as honey or molasses.
2. Healthful snacks people really like, including trail mix, beef and buffalo strips, and tamari almonds and dried fruit.
3. Premium teas and coffees, produced sustainably.
4. 100% organic fruit spreads, from Willamette Valley berries.

Each Buckboard product is based on a real person, place or incident from American history.  There is Coboway’s Smoked Salmon, named for the Clatsop Indian who helped Lewis & Clark survive the winter of 1805 on the Oregon coast…Stagecoach Mary’s Strong Black Coffee, which tells the story of freed slave Mary Fields, who drove a U.S. Mail coach in Montana…Narcissa Whitman’s Sweet Potato Biscuits mix, based on the doomed 1830s missionary from Walla Walla...and two dozen more such products.

Corrigan notes, “We recognize how critically schools need the money they raise through product sales and other fundraisers.  Buckboard is offering what we consider a better, modern version of the traditional fundraiser.  Kids can raise funds to support programs AND support healthy habits.”

To learn more about Buckboard’s healthy, educational fundraisers, visit www.buckboard-provisioning.com.

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