Your Check-Off Dollars Keep Kids Drinking Milk
by Bonnie Engel, WMMB District 9 Director

School has begun for another year and activities are in full swing. Kids are busy going to classes, playing with their friends, and taking part in sports and extra curricular activities. With today's active family lifestyles, it's important to remember the importance of good nutrition – including milk – in our children's meals and snacks.

As a Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) director, I have always thought it's important to educate our children about good nutrition. The dollars dairy producers allocate to childhood nutrition are a good value to Wisconsin dairy producers.

Children and teens represent a critical challenge. Most children don't get the calcium that they need. Remember:

• Children ages 4 to 8 need 800 milligrams per day, which is the equivalent of about three 8-ounce glasses of milk each day.
• Children and teens between the ages 9-18 need 1,300 milligrams of calcium per day, or about four 8-ounce glasses of milk a day.

Further, we lose almost half of all milk drinkers between the ages of 12 and 24. Thus, children and teens are a critical focus for the Dairy Council of Wisconsin's (DCW) efforts.

Dairy Council of Wisconsin - WMMB's Nutrition Arm
WMMB funds nutrition resources through the Dairy Council of Wisconsin (DCW). I serve as a WMMB representative to DCW and am proud of the programs DCW implements in schools throughout Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Schools are the nucleus of DCW's product information and nutrition education campaigns.

School Foodservice
In one capacity, DCW works with the school foodservice personnel throughout Wisconsin and northern Illinois to encourage children to get proper nutrition. DCW provides support for schools to encourage kids to eat breakfast and choose healthy school lunch items. DCW works diligently with foodservice professionals to make sure dairy is part of each school's menu offerings.

Milk Vending
Dairy check-off dollars are being used to generate strong milk vending programs in schools. WMMB – through DCW – has encouraged schools to install vending machines by simplifying the process. DCW has supplied research assistance, promotional items, vending resources and seminars to schools and encouraged them to use the machines as a fundraising tool. From just a few, there are now milk vending machines in nearly third of Wisconsin's high schools since the program kicked off 18 months ago.

I'm happy to report that DCW and its national counterparts are making progress. With more popular milk flavors now available in convenient plastic containers, and more milk vending machines in schools and convenience stores, kids are given a lot more choices other than soft drinks. A recent national survey noted that milk consumption among teens is up for the first time in six years! We still have miles to go to compete with the soft drink industry, but we are seeing measurable results to our efforts.

Classroom Education
In addition to funding the Dairy Council of Wisconsin, WMMB provides other communicators, such as local dairy ambassadors and Alice in Dairyland, with the materials and resources they need to teach children about dairy from farm to fridge, as well as the health benefits of eating dairy products.

This fall, WMMB also will be offering all Wisconsin fourth grade teachers and County Dairy Leader Groups dairy education materials and an engaging video. In this first-time venture, WMMB will take an "America's Dairyland" television episode and convert it for classroom use. The 30-minute episode "Farm to Family," tracks the progress milk makes, from the cow to the kitchen table, through the eyes of two young kids. You can see this episode for yourself in October and November in most television markets. For specific times and locations, visit www.WisDairy.com.

Remember, children learn from example, so if you're influential in a child's life, make sure you're leading a healthy lifestyle and getting at least three servings of dairy daily! We all need to be dairy ambassadors and make sure our children are eating properly.

Bonnie Engel is the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board Director for District 9, which covers Menominee, Shawano and Waupaca counties. Bonnie and her husband, Robert, and sons, Jim and Michael, farm 226 acres and milk 15 Registered Guernseys and 50 Registered Jersey. Bonnie has served on the board since 1995 and is a member of the Local Markets Committee and a Dairy Council of Wisconsin board member.