Charlie Cart Project Makes Nutrition Training Enjoyable, Free, and Accessible

Kern County kids are gaining a brand new alternative to find out about wholesome consuming by means of hands-on expertise with the set up of a Charlie Cart instructing kitchen on the Beale Memorial Library. The cell cart is designed to assist kids develop sensible cooking expertise, find out about vitamin, and perceive how meals fuels their our bodies.

The Charlie Cart Project is a collaboration between Blue Zones Project Bakersfield, the Kern County Library, and the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS). For the subsequent six weeks, cooking professionals will present hands-on classes and cooking demonstrations for teenagers each Wednesday afternoon contained in the Beale Memorial Library. These classes are free and open to the general public.

“Hosting this program at the library ensures that it is accessible, welcoming, and free; removing barriers that often stand in the way of basic health education,” mentioned Karina Funez, coverage supervisor for Blue Zones Project Bakersfield. 

The set up was celebrated throughout a press convention held on the library on Wednesday, which included a dwell cooking demonstration utilizing the Charlie Cart. Community companions, educators, and library employees gathered to showcase how this system can be used to serve native youth. 

Community Partners be part of employees from Blue Zones, Kern County Library, and KCSOS for a information convention launching the Charlie Cart Project.

The Charlie Cart is absolutely outfitted with cooking instruments and provides to indicate kids how one can safely put together easy meals whereas studying about meals security and wholesome decisions. KCSOS employees will lead interactive classes utilizing a hands-on cooking curriculum geared toward kids of all ages, serving to them construct confidence and independence within the kitchen.

“There is an empowerment that happens when children get to see how food is made,” mentioned Rafael Juarez, senior director of Food and Nutrition Services for KCSOS. “If we don’t get exposed to the different fruits and vegetables that really help us as we develop, we miss out on necessary nutrition.”

The library can be offering a literacy part to the weekly instruction. Lessons begin with story time, with a kids’s e book corresponding to every cooking demonstration learn aloud. Families can then test the books out as soon as the lesson is completed. Library officers mentioned the mission aligns naturally with their mission of neighborhood empowerment.

“Libraries have always been about more than books; they’re about empowering people,” mentioned Andie Sullivan, director of libraries for the Kern County Library. “The Charlie Cart Project brings real-world culinary skill-building into a library setting, turning knowledge into action and giving young learners practical tools to make healthy choices every day.”

Library leaders emphasised the worth of the partnership in connecting training and wellness. Funez says the partnership is a robust instance of how completely different organizations can unite with a shared mission.

“We are incredibly proud of this collaboration and grateful to the Kern County Library and KCSOS for their leadership, shared goals, and commitment to children and families,” Funez mentioned. “This is how we create a healthier future for Bakersfield.”  

Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez shared how, as a mom, it may be difficult to have these discussions with kids about vitamin and bodily well being. 

“We are taking the steps to address issues of health, issues of obesity. We know that they are prevalent, common, problematic, and almost impossible to talk about,” Perez mentioned. “Thank you for finding creative, healthy, positive ways to help our children deal with the reality that what we eat matters.”  

Juarez mentioned the eventual objective is to launch extra Charlie Carts at library branches throughout Kern County and proceed to make a distinction in college students’ lives lengthy after the six-week pilot program ends. 

“There is a big need in our community, and we’re going to do our very best to fill that need,” he mentioned. “It truly is one child, one family, one community space at a time that we can make a big impact.”

The Charlie Cart Project will proceed each Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. on the Beale Memorial Library from now till February 25.