An Apple a Day: Ensuring Israel's Children Stay Healthy, Even in Times of Hardship

When Guy, age 5, came home from school and asked his mother, Ruti, for a glass of plain milk and a fruit, she was shocked. Like many young children, Guy had been a fussy eater and his idea of great food was a sugary snack and chocolate milk. Since learning in kindergarten though that chocolate strips the calcium out of the milk, Guy has pressed his mother to change his diet and Ruti has changed her grocery purchasing patterns to include vegetables and foods high in nutrients.

Thanks largely to the Nutrition/Healthy Living Project – a hands-on program to educate Israeli children and their parents about proper eating, hygiene, and physical fitness developed by Ashalim, JDC's partnership with the Government of Israel and UJA/Federation of New York – youngsters like Guy are bringing home the importance of nutritional health. "Issues including poor nutrition and obesity cannot be adequately addressed through children alone," says Adina, the Project's Director. "We involve the parents, counselors, and social workers who purchase food and supervise the children in order to effectively produce changes in the children's habits."

The Nutrition/Healthy Living Project first targeted children who were referred to special care facilities by Israel's Ministry of Social Affairs. Parent-child groups were established in more than 15 of these facilities: in overnight institutions where children were taken from their homes because of neglect or other dysfunction, and daycare facilities with similar at-risk populations. The groups convened for a parent-child activity – cooking, arts and crafts, or a game – every other week for four or five months, and focused on a health theme, such as the nutritional value of fruits, calcium, or nuts (in conjunction with Tu B'Shvat). A dietician from the Nutrition/Healthy Living Project led each group with support from facility staff, including a social worker and a counselor.

"One of the most important accomplishments of this project is that we brought parents – who felt ashamed and guilty at their faulty parenting – to the overnight facilities to be with their child," says Adina. An astounding 90% of the parents attended and participated in the group meetings. "We reunited parents with their children and gave them an opportunity to interact through the subject of nutritional health."

Prior to the development of the program, issues of health and nutritional neglect of children in Israel took a back seat to other types of parental and educational neglect. In contrast, the Ministry of Social Affairs is now so engaged in the cause that they will take over JDC's efforts in these childcare facilities in 2005.

While JDC is phasing out of its leading role in the children's facilities, the Nutrition/Healthy Living Project has adopted a new citywide model. "Many times there’s not a very big difference between children we target in the citywide model and those in the daycare facilities," notes Adina. "They also suffer from the effects of poverty and neglect. It is our responsibility to help them as best we can while they are living at home."

The program is presently running in Akko and Ramla. In conjunction with the local municipalities and the Ministry of Education, JDC trains kindergarten teachers and aids in how to educate youngsters about nutrition and fitness in school. The Nutrition/Healthy Living Project also creates parent groups to help infuse nutritional awareness into the children's homes.

These kindergarten classes receive health education at least once a week from their own teachers or from a dietician or gym teacher affiliated with Nutrition/Healthy Living. In addition, periodically, equipment is purchased to support healthy and nutritional practices among these vulnerable children (e.g. forks and knives are bought so fruit salad can be made, and balls or other equipment are provided so the kids can play active sports).

"We see more and more that the issue of nutrition is becoming central because of the economic situation in Israel," says Adina. "Five years ago, for example, even the poorest families were mostly able to survive and purchase good nutritious foods for their children – but today, it's not that simple."

In light of this growing need, the project is raising awareness among the Ministry of Education – the administrative body responsible for these children – that a healthy meal should include variety, milk products, protein, and other vital nutrients.

For Adina, the pride of the project has been its system-wide impact in raising awareness of nutritional neglect and effectively implementing a solution. "This has turned into a subject that today the Israel Ministry of Social Affairs acknowledges is of great importance."

Pending funding, the Nutrition/Healthy Living Project is planned to expand to three more cities in northern Israel.