We're Here to Assist

The world of school nutrition is ever changing and your roles as professionals serving the children of our region becomes more and more complex.  The Southeast United Dairy Industry Association, more commonly known as SUDIA, is here to support you in your efforts to provide foods the students will select and programs to help increase the participation in your meal programs.

In an effort to keep you updated on all of the initiatives we have at SUDIA, we will send out a quarterly newsletter.  The newsletter will highlight time sensitive information and provide you with a link to available resources.  We welcome your feedback on this newsletter.  While this tool will be generated in our Atlanta office, our state representatives are there to assist you.  If you are not sure of the SUDIA staff person covering your area, please refer to the list below.  We also encourage you to visit our web site at www.southeastdairy.org for great resources and up to date information.

Still Accepting applications for the third Annual LISN Award,
Nominations Due December 3rd!

The LISN Award, sponsored byNational Dairy Council®, acknowledges and promotes those partnerships between schools and dairy processors that have enhanced the school milk drinking experience by using kid-appealing packaging and promotions, nationally known as the New Look of School Milk.

Your district and processor could win the first prize of $5,000 each, or 1st or 2nd runner up prizes of $2,000 or $1,000 each, respectively. Prizes are earmarked for use toward future school nutrition efforts, to help continue to meet your wellness goals. Districts may nominate their processor or processors may nominate their own district partnerships. For more information, go to www.liSN-awards.org  for the criteria and application form.

Bridges to Wellness™ Program
Bridges to Wellness™ (BTW): Connecting School Meals and Classroom Learning is designed to “bridge the gap” and bring school nutrition professionals and classroom educators together to make nutrition learning come alive. National Dairy Council® in conjunction with the School Nutrition Foundation developed BTW to help extend nutrition messages beyond the second and fourth grades where Little D’s Nutrition Expedition™ and Arianna’s Nutrition Expedition™ are taught.

BTW is a set of nutrition lessons and activities for students in grades 5-10. Current topics cover the 3-A-Day™ of Dairy Nutrient Package and the Food Groups to Encourage.

Each BTW lesson includes three key components to reflect connections between classroom, cafeteria, and home:

• Classroom instruction (gaining knowledge)

• Application activity (demonstrating gained knowledge)

• Cafeteria connections (putting knowledge into practice and changing behavior)

The lessons are available on our website at http://www.southeastdairy.org/news/bridges.html They are also available in the Educators and School Nutrition Professionals sections of NutritionExplorations.org.

Milk Matters Campaign
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Milk matters is a public health education campaign to promote calcium consumption among tweens and teens which is a time of critical bone growth.  Studies show that youth in these age groups are not getting enough calcium in their diets with fewer than one in 10 girls—and only one in four boys ages 9 to 13 who  are at above an adequate intake of calcium.

The milk matters campaign has introduced new online resources for middle and high school teachers to help their students understand the importance of getting the calcium they need.  Resources available on the NICHD website feature fun, hands-on classroom lessons created to teach students about the role of calcium in nutrition and bone health.  Activities for students include healthy snack recipes, learning how to read nutrition labels and tracking calcium intake; classroom materials for teachers include a guide and handout addressing lactose intolerance and how to minimize its symptoms, and how to measure achievement of classroom activity learning objectives. For more information on the milk matters campaign, visit their website at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/milk/about/index.cfm

Health News For You
Boosting your bone health: It’s never too early!
No matter how healthy you are, your body starts losing bone mass naturally after age 30 or earlier. The result can be the brittle, fragile bones and poor posture associated with osteoporosis.
The good news is there are simple steps you can take to promote bone health throughout your life. Plus, the more you know, the more you can help your family develop the “bone smarts” they need to fight osteoporosis and other health problems.
The following links can help you learn more about bone health:
Bone Up On Dairy
Wanted: Stronger Bones
3-A-Day Stats

Alabama
Jana Harland, RD LD
Program Account Manager
jharland@sudiainc.com

Georgia
Linda Silverman, MS
School Program Account Manager
lsilverman@sudiainc.com

Molly Szymanski, MA, LD, SNS
Child Nutrition Director
mollys@sudiainc.com

Kentucky
Kathy Belcher, MA, CFCS
Program Director
kbelcher@sudiainc.com

Louisiana
Linda Greco, LDN, RD
Program Account Manager
lgreco@sudiainc.com

Mississippi
Greta Heru, MS
Program Account Manager
gheru@sudiainc.com

North Carolina
Southern and Western North Carolina
Dottie Ryan, RD, LDN
Program Director
dryan@sudiainc.com

Northern and Eastern North Carolina
Laura Buxenbaum, MPH, RD, LDN
Program Account Manager
lbuxenbaum@sudiainc.com

South Carolina
Mickela Mitchell, MS, RD
Program Account Manager
mmitchell@sudiainc.com

Tennessee
Western Tennessee
Greta Heru, MS
Program Account Manager
gheru@sudiainc.com

Middle Tennessee
TracyNoerper, MS, RD, SNS
Program Account Manager
tnoerper@sudiainc.com

Eastern Tennessee
Jill Henderson, MS, RD
Program Account Manager
jhenderson@sudiainc.com

Virginia
Central and Eastern Virginia
Kristin Brittle, RD
Program Account Manager
kbrittle@sudiainc.com

Southwestern Virginia
Jill Henderson, MS, RD, SNS
Program Account Manager
jhenderson@sudiainc.com