Wisconsin’s FoodWIse-developed and SNAP-Ed funded social marketing campaign Harvest of the Month (HOM) uses thoughtfully created materials and messages to encourage school-aged children and families to eat more fruits and vegetables. Fond du Lac County Nutrition Educator Melanie Phillips’ unique approach to implementing HOM in her community built on teamwork and connections, from students supporting one another to taste a new food, to educators and administrators collaborating as they explored seasonal, local Wisconsin produce.

CHALLENGE

Wisconsin is a state of more than 64,100 farms, with seasonal harvests from asparagus and sweet peas in spring to cranberries and winter squash through late fall. The abundance of produce that farmers cultivate often provides for consumers in other states. UW-Madison Division of Extension’s SNAP-Ed funded FoodWIse developed the Harvest of the Month (HOM) social marketing campaign in efforts to support elementary-aged children and their families as they explore healthy fruits and vegetables that are seasonally and locally available.

Fond du Lac Educator Melanie Phillips was engaged in regular programming with Riverside Elementary when she reached out to the school wellness program to learn more about their initiatives. Through her participation in the school wellness committee work, Melanie developed connections with the Assistant Food Service Director at the Fond du Lac School District. From their conversations, she understood that the food service prioritized increasing students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables during school meals. When Melanie presented HOM as a possible intervention, the Assistant Food Service Director was supportive in piloting the campaign.

APPROACH

During monthly planning meetings with members of the wellness committee, Melanie developed strategies for implementing HOM campaigns at Riverside. With the help of Aramark food service staff who develop school lunch menus, sweet potatoes were selected as the first featured local harvest. Every elementary school in the district featured sweet potato fries on their menus one special January day in 2022, and Riverside piloted the HOM campaign.

Fond du Lac Educator Melanie Phillips was engaged in regular programming with Riverside Elementary when she reached out to the school wellness program to learn more about their initiatives. Through her participation in the school wellness committee work, Melanie developed connections with the Assistant Food Service Director at the Fond du Lac School District. From their conversations, she understood that the food service prioritized increasing students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables during school meals. When Melanie presented HOM as a possible intervention, the Assistant Food Service Director was supportive in piloting the campaign.

Using English and Spanish marketing materials such as postcards sent to families, activity guides for teachers, and posters throughout the cafeteria the week leading up to this new menu item, Melanie, school, and food service staff brought attention and energy to help students learn about the benefits of sweet potatoes. As the school prepared for this featured menu item, the physical education teacher helped recruit 4th and 5th grade Student Food & Health Ambassadors to connect with younger students. They walked around the cafeteria, encouraging students to try this new food and participate in trivia questions about sweet potatoes. On the lunch menu that day, the Harvest of the Month logo was featured next to sweet potato fries, highlighting the new option for the day. Melanie brought whole, uncooked sweet potatoes for students to explore with their five senses to understand what it looked like before it became the fry on their plate.

OUTCOME

During the lunch, students – whether they had school-provided meals or brought their own lunches from home – teachers and cafeteria staff alike were able to taste sweet potato fries and energetically engage with trivia facts to gauge their knowledge about the Wisconsin harvest that many had not tried before. For a majority of the 266 students in Riverside’s K-5 grades, this was a new food item. With encouragement from peers, many were willing to try the fries. While some gave it the thumbs down on their first try, many were excited and hoped to see them on the school menu again.

Based on the success of sweet potato fries, Riverside continued engaging in HOM throughout the school year. The strength of the program throughout the spring semester allowed Melanie to shift her leadership role to another FoodWIse-eligible school in the district at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, while Riverside staff continued implementing new monthly menu items to reflect Wisconsin’s rotating seasonal produce. Other staffing changes at Aramark meant the food service staff who initially implemented this campaign with Melanie shared their plans with their replacement, and plans to use HOM in her new district.