Invitation to Organize Against School Milk
Next month, World School Milk Day will be celebrated around the world to tout the supposed benefits of school milk for children and their communities. In reality, school milk only benefits the dairy industry and harms the children who receive it. For this reason, Seed the Commons is organizing a counter-celebration and to our knowledge, it will be the first time that anyone organizes against World School Milk Day or to raise awareness about the problems with school milk specifically. This event will also mark the launch of our campaign to reverse the expansion of school milk around the world – starting by getting milk out of San Francisco school meals. We’d like to invite you to join us.
Participate in this campaign to #ReverseTheTrend of milk in schools meals and organize a World School Milk Day Counter-Celebration in your city or school district. This is a great opportunity to bring together parents, children and everybody who eats for a fun and educational day to learn about the benefits of removing milk from school meals. Remember to share photos of your events with the hashtags #GetMilkOut, #ReverseTheTrend and #MilkFreeSchoolMeals!
Here are some suggested activities:
Host games and activities for children and adults! From drawing your favorite vegetables to a dairy-themed jeopardy, the possibilities are endless.
Organize a field trip to a school garden, community garden or organic farm to learn about the nutritional abundance present in plant foods that are local to your area.
Host discussions and presentations on topics such as:
- How the dairy industry uses milk in schools to grow their profits to the detriment of children’s health
- How dairy industry lobbyists influence what kids eat at schools by helping set the nutritional guidelines.
- How milk in schools disproportionately harms children of color
- How to raise strong, healthy kids with plant foods from around the world
Host food demos and/or sample healthy, calcium-rich plant-based recipes such as:
- Chia seed pudding
- Collard greens with a tangy molasses sauce
- Broccoli and tofu stir-fry
- Steamed broccoli with cheezy nutritional yeast and tahini sauce
- Organic tortillas and tamales with beans, raw kale and guacamole
- Fruit smoothies with seed and almond butters
Provide free samples of plant-based milk, cheese and yogurt alternatives.
Find out more about our counter-celebration by reading our previous blog post: World School Milk Day Counter-Celebration.
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