March is National Nutrition Month® and ACL needs your help to celebrate. Throughout the month, we will be highlighting how you make your mark, one bite at a time through the Congregate Nutrition Program.
You, the congregate program, and all of its participants are vital to the community:
- Congregate nutrition programs help provide older adults with a high quality diet through healthy meals that look good, taste good, and provide choices.
- Congregate nutrition programs are inviting, hospitable, and inclusive creating a comfortable and welcoming environment.
- Congregate nutrition programs connect people to each other through fun, engaging activities that decrease social isolation and solidify friendships.
- Congregate nutrition programs promote health through physical activity, active learning, nutrition education, and eating together.
- Congregate nutrition programs increase food security through meals and access to vital social services such as heating and cooling assistance programs, SNAP, and health care programs.
You make your mark, one bite at a time, one step at a time, every day, and we want to spread the word. We are asking you to share your success with us by sending us your photos, videos, audio clips, and testimonials.
Between now and the end of March, please send photos, videos, audio clips, or testimonials from seniors about your meal site, program activities, or nutrition education to healthpromotion@acl.hhs.gov. Please include your contact information and permission to use the material.
ACL will feature one photo, video, or audio clip weekly on its website and Facebook page with attribution and a caption about how to Make Your Mark, One Bite at a Time. In addition, ACL will begin a project using your photos, videos, and testimonials to develop a lively, engaging video that the aging services network can use to show what congregate nutrition is all about, address misconceptions, and demonstrate its crucial role in healthy aging.
We hope that you will join us and spread the word as we celebrate good food, good companionship, and good programs.
Stay tuned: ACL will also be celebrating National Nutrition Month® with blogs, webinars, tip sheets, and more.