{"id":19968,"date":"2018-02-28T15:36:26","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T20:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=19968"},"modified":"2018-03-07T16:05:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T21:05:05","slug":"parents-kids-wage-battle-for-real-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/parents-kids-wage-battle-for-real-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents, kids wage battle for “real food”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

He might not vote yet, but Spencer Savage has his eye on the future.
\nThis week, the young Aurora resident told elected officials that while he and his peers might not be able to vote quite just yet, they are the future homeowners of Aurora, future parents, and perhaps even future mayors and councillors. But to do that, he said they need a strong, healthy foundation.
\nSpencer was at Town Hall last Tuesday to help lead a vanguard of parents and advocates to advocate for healthy food, \u201creal food\u201d options in local vending machines and concession stands.
\nCalling on Council to set a higher standard when it comes to the amount of healthy food available at municipal facilities, particularly recreation centres, they said it was time to put the health of citizens ahead of a buck.
\n\u201cDo you care about me?\u201d asked Spencer. \u201cDo you care about the kids in Aurora? I know we don\u2019t vote yet, but one day we will be the homeowners of Aurora, parents ourselves, and maybe even the mayor. For now, we\u2019re kids and we deserve every opportunity to grow up healthy and that is why we sign up for sports and activities in the Town\u2019s rec centres.
\n\u201cI spent 10 \u2013 15 hours a week there and sometimes my mom has to pack a snack because there are no healthy food options at the concessions. Why is that? Aren\u2019t the recreation centres places for health and fitness? Would you work out at the gym for an hour and then go and get a Big Mac? In school, we\u2019re taught to do the right thing above all else and take on leadership roles and set a good example to others, which is why I am here today. We\u2019re asking you to take a leadership role and do the right thing.\u201d
\nThe right thing, according to the residents who gathered at Town Hall, is to put \u201creal food first\u201d at all community recreation centres and arenas.
\nThe group of concerned parents \u2013 spearheaded by five local moms \u2013 collected over 700 signatures of support from local citizens who say it is time to do away with \u201ca junk food first\u201d approach to concessions.
\nTheir efforts led to Council laying the ground work for a new contract with potential concessions vendors that will require them to provide at least 55 per cent healthy food options at both the concession counters and in vending machines.
\n\u201cThe Town\u2019s vision talks about being leaders and seeking innovative approaches and effective solutions,\u201d said local mom Tracy Smith. \u201cI truly hope we can put that vision into practice this evening.\u201d
\nMs. Smith said the initially recommended 25 per cent requirement was a step in the right direction, but it didn\u2019t jive with the Town\u2019s goals to promote healthy living and make Aurora the \u201cmost active community\u201d in Canada.
\nThe current state of snack bar affairs, she said, consistently virtually all candy, chocolate bars, sugary drinks and otherwise processed foods, all located next to recreation centres where \u201cfamilies and children go to enhance their health and vitality.
\n\u201cThe statistics right now on obesity in Canada are staggering,\u201d said Ms. Smith. \u201cI think we need to do better than what was suggested in this report. I know we can do better. Regardless of the fear of trying something new or losing money, I think we all know that making these changes and shifting our focus is the right thing to do \u2013 for our families, for our children, our athletes, our grandkids, and ourselves. We all need real, nutrient-rich food to thrive, participate and fuel our bodies. We\u2019re here tonight to help shape and create that vision with you and address some of the hesitations you may have and offer viable solutions, so together we can partner on transforming our current junk bars into a new type of snack bars.\u201d
\nPart of their solution was boosting that initial recommendation of 25 per cent healthy content to 55 per cent, along with removing at least half of the currently offered \u201ctreat food\u201d and an effective communication strategy to get word out to residents.
\nSurvey details were presented to Council in a staff report which indicated 81.5 per cent of residents thought it was important to have healthy food options, while 79 per cent were willing to put their money where their mouth is and buy healthy food items from concession stands in the future.
\nYet, a recent pilot project to highlight a handful of healthy menu items was less than successful.
\nConcerned that Council members might not see healthy food items as a viable financial option, the parents said previously floated food items were not easily visible, had limited availability depending on which recreation centre you went to, and, when they were there, were not presented in the most appetizing manner.
\nOther delegates spoke to the financial aspect, including Elise Volpe, who said they have reached out to marketing groups in Aurora who have offered to help at no charge.
\n\u201cWe recognize some of you will have concerns related to the viability of this change,\u201d said Ms. Volpe. \u201cWe have heard that healthy food won\u2019t sell, the Town won\u2019t receive responses to the RFP and that other communities have not been successful. We feel strongly healthy foods will sell. Examples include Freshii, which has opened 370 stores since 2005 and will have almost 800 by 2019. From our research, we understand the keys to success are proper display of the food. Subsidizing healthy food by increased cost to junk food is a strategy that could help and is worth exploring. We must stick with the change, even if there is short-term push-back because it is the right thing to do.\u201d
\nThis was a sentiment shared by Spencer, who told Council, \u201cIf you can spend $72,000 on the dog park so that dogs can run freely and enjoy fitness and recreation, why can\u2019t you consider the importance of people\u2019s health, too? I hope you do the right thing and choose people over profits.\u201d
\nYet, this was the sentiment later expressed by Council.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how you can put a price on the health of our kids and our residents,\u201d said Councillor Tom Mrakas. \u201cI would prefer to see it go to 100 per cent, but I think 55 is a great start.\u201d
\nAgreed Councillor John Abel: \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be looking to make a small profit at the expense of our children. It should be the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents lead push for healthy options at municipal concession stands and vending machines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5c4","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 08:30:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}