Address:

P.O. Box 5121
Ridgewood, New Jersey 07451-5121
(201) 638-0337
(201) 458-0886

Website: Veggiecation.com

Founding Date: October 2009

Overview:

Lisa Suriano, founder and owner

The Veggiecation Program is a curriculum based nutrition education program that introduces young children to the delicious and nutritious world of vegetables. Utilizing existing school resources to minimize costs and seamlessly integrate into classrooms, school lunch programs, wellness initiatives, afterschool activities and summer camps, Veggiecation incorporates kid-friendly vegetable preparations into each lesson and empowers students to expand their horizons while simultaneously improving their
nutritional status.

Private and public schools can purchase the Veggiecation program for students, teachers and food workers to utilize throughout the entire school year. The Veggiecation Program’s standard-based, cross-content lessons can be  customized for individual classroom requirements and includes program materials for teachers to incorporate into their existing lesson plans.

Veggiecation is adaptable for lesson plans in areas of science, literacy, art, social sciences, math and physical education as well as school wide assemblies.

Veggiecation has been successfully test piloted in schools, such as The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine (New York, NY) and The Riverdale Country School (Bronx, NY).  Veggiecation is available in over 100 public schools in Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.  Veggiecation is also taught in public and private schools in the states of California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.

Philosophy:

Nutrition is the one area that every person must address at least three times per day, and in the school system, nutrition is one of the most relevant yet least taught subjects. By empowering young students with their food choices and using the power of positive peer influence, Veggiecation seeks to educate a new generation how and why to eat healthy.

Veggiecation LLC strives to work as a team with school administrators, teachers, food service and parents in order to implement a program that is cost effective and time sensitive, while also accomplishing curriculum goals in areas ranging from math to literacy. Additionally, students are taught vital social skills as they work together in the Veggiecation program.

Affiliations:

• JC Food, Inc.
• Yellow Bird Bohemia
• New York Coalition for Healthy School Food
• HealthCorps
• The Ground Up Campaign
• Healthy Kids Challenge
• The Cathedral School
• Riverdale Country School
• The Greenwich Country Day School
• Belmont Day School
• Better DC School Food
• Grow NYC
• Slow Food USA
• Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership
• Alpha II Omega Youth Services
• City Harvest
• NYC Alliance for Child Nutrition Reauthorization

Press Contact:

Fanny Kim, FKPR
(646) 431-7985
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Lisa Suriano, CEO

Lisa Suriano, owner and founder of Veggiecation, is the creator of an innovative curriculum based lunch program that introduces young children to the nutritious world of vegetables. Utilizing existing school resources to minimize costs and seamlessly integrate Veggiecation into the classroom and school lunch programs, Veggiecation incorporates kid-friendly vegetable preparations into classroom lesson and empowers students to expand their horizons while simultaneously improving their nutritional status. Lisa founded Veggiecation in 2009, while simultaneously studying
for her Master of Science, Nutrition and Food Science at Montclair State University, which she received in May 2010.

Prior to founding Veggiecation, in 2005, Lisa joined and continues to be actively involved in her family business J.C. Food where she is Director of Operations and Team Nutritionist. J.C. Food is a premier school food service consulting company for independent schools in New York, Connecticut and Boston metro areas. In addition to supervising the daily operations in many of the schools, she coordinates J.C. Food’s annual food show where they discover and make available the latest, healthiest products for students. Always mindful of nutritionally based foods, Lisa also researches organic and natural food offerings for use in the schools.

As a nutrition expert, Lisa provides her food and nutrition knowledge to organizations throughout the tri-state area, such as Horizons Camp (Brooklyn, New York) where she worked as the Nutrition and Food Service Coordinator, and Look Sharp Performing Arts Center (Ramsey, New Jersey) where Lisa provides nutrition counseling to program  attendees.

Lisa’s extensive study in food and nutrition includes a series of complimentary credentials, such as Certified Personal Trainer and Serv-Safe Certification for proper food handling and protection against food borne illness. Today, Lisa continues to study food processing and its effect of nutrient denaturation, sports-specific nutrition, FDA/USDA regulations, and food allergy safety and labeling. Prior, in 2005, Lisa received her Bachelor of Science, Business Administration from The College of New Jersey, and most recently, in 2010, her Master of Science, Nutrition and Food Science, from Montclair State University.

Lisa, a native of Queens, New York, was raised and currently resides in New Jersey where she is married to her childhood sweetheart. Together, they are raising Atticus, their three-year old Beagle.

The Veggiecation Program’s initial fee of $59.99, plus $3.49 per student, applies to Veggiecation Program for one school year (9 months). Veggiecation initial fee will supply program materials for up to three classrooms and includes:

• A Classroom Companion with lessons to fulfill state requirements for grades 1 through 3
• Seasonal Vegetable lesson plan with 36 corresponding food service recipes developed to yield the quantity serving needs of school food.
• A Seasonal Recipe Book with 36 simple & healthful recipes to cook with kids in class
• A set of “Veggie of the Month” posters that include concise science, nutrition and geography lessons at a glance
• The audio CD with sheet music and lyrics of theme song, “Veggiecation Across the Nation” with accompanying Instructional Dance Video
• A set of lunchtime ballot box materials
• Take home recipe booklets for each student with 36 recipes adapted for family serving sizes
• A set of “I tried it” Sticker for each student
• 1 year Veggiecation.com membership for entire school community (includes all the activities, tutorials, resources, etc.)

Schools can purchase supplementary classroom materials for an additional fee:

Classroom Companion, $9.99 per book
“Veggiecation Across the Nation” CD, $2.99 per CD
“Veggie of the Month” posters (set of 9), $39.99 per set
Games & Activities Booklet, $4.49 per book