624: Sharon Pesner on Eating the Rainbow.
Encouraging Children to Eat More Colorful Foods.
In This Podcast:
Sharon Pesner was just an ordinary mom, struggling to get her children to eat healthy foods, until she bravely presented her ideas at a PTA meeting and they grew into a program called Eating the Rainbow. Sharon shares how the program developed, the contagious excitement it generated, and the impact it had on the entire school community. She also reflects on the personal growth she experienced while working on the program, and she tells us where she volunteers now.
Our Guest:
Sharon Pesner is the creator of the Eating the Rainbow School Nutrition Program. A parent-led, community supported, principal & PTA endorsed, school-wide program that ran successfully at the Chestnut Hills Elementary School in Dix Hills, NY until it closed. Eating the Rainbow was an inspired idea that with the help of three other moms, and numerous volunteers, evolved into an EPIC program reaching far into the community and school district and impacting hundreds of kids and their families. Sharon is a mother of two ‘almost-adults’, and knows that a mom’s dedication to the health of her kids can move mountains when it needs to.
Listen in and learn about:
- Sharon’s philosophy on health & nutrition
- Events that inspired the Eating the Rainbow program
- The PTA’s response to Sharon’s proposal
- When she felt like a salmon swimming upstream
- How and when she knew she was doing the right thing
- Basic principles driving the program
- Ways they made sure the program was available to all students
- What fueled Sharon’s fire
- 4 words that set the whole program in motion
- Permaculture as defined by Sharon
- What Sharon is doing now
- Restoration Farm
- Sharon’s experience of “If you build, it they will come.”
- The biggest thing Sharon learned through the program
- Going with the flow
As well as:
Her failure – A low point was when the school had to close.
Her success –The Eating the Rainbow program and her children
Her drive – Feeling like she is helping and making a difference in someone’s life.
Her advice – Say “yes”, even if it scares you.
Sharon’s Book recommendation:
Becoming Supernatural by Dr Joseph Dispenza
How to reach Sharon:
Website: eatingtherainbow.org
Email: Send an email to podcast@urbanfarm.org and put “Attn: Sharon Pesner” in the subject line. We will forward your messages to her.
UrbanFarm.org/eattherainbow
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