Salad's On! Fogelsville Students Eating Healthy

Fogelsville Elementary School unveiled its new salad bar Wednesday, thanks to a donation by Dole Food Company and Giant Food Store

The salad bars were donated as a part of First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools," initiative, which has donated more than 2,491 salad bars serving more than 1,245,500 children across the country.

The new salad bar opening event, which underscored the practical actions schools can take to combat the growing obesity epidemic through healthy lunch options, was attended by U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent and state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.

Fogelsville Elementary School applied to Dole for the salad bar online and was a selected school, according to Marty Ordman, vice president for marketing and communications.

"We went to Giant Food and said we'd like to partner with you by identifying schools in the Allentown area," Ordman said.

Schnecksville Elementary, another Parkland School District school, was also selected to recieve a salad bar, Ordman said.

The state-of-the art salad bar cost Dole and Giant a total of $2,500. "It's portable, short, specially made for schools and keeps the food cold for three hours," Ordman said.

On it's first day, the salad bar was chock full of healthy options, including lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, cheese, carrots and chicken.

The school is growing its own garden vegetables for use in the salad bar.

"We're utilizing the fruits of our own labor in the salad bar," said Fogelsville principal Brenda DeRenzo.

Fifth-grader Jade Mangahas, a gymnast at Parkettes, told the assembly that eating right is important for strong muscles and body fitness.

"It's good to enjoy healthier options for lunch," she said.

Dent noted that the issue of nutrition rises above politics and is something everyone can agree about.

"What drives so much of healthcare costs is four or five conditions we know are preventable -- smoking, drinking, obesity, diabetes and cholesterol," Dent said. "It's all preventable. Obviously, a good nutrition program is important and it's important to teach better habits at a young age."

Dent said it is frustrating to him as a politican to see money spent on healthcare conditions that are preventable in the first place.