FoodCorps Co-Founder Heads to the White House
Debra Eschmeyer. Photo: FoodCorps
The White House today announced that Debra Eschmeyer has joined the staff as both the executive director of the First Lady's Let’s Move! initiative and as the President’s senior policy advisor on nutrition.
Eschmeyer has long worked to combat childhood obesity and food insecurity as co-founder of FoodCorps, a national service program that provides hands-on food and health lessons to children in limited-resource communities. Here’s how it works: FoodCorps places emerging leaders from AmeriCorps in schools across the country, and for a year apiece, those young adults help build gardens, teach cooking lessons, and change what’s on cafeteria menus for the better. And it does wonders: According to a FoodCorps report, Arkansas school cooks are serving local carrots and beans, and New Mexico students are psyched about the fresh spinach salad on their lunch trays.
Photo: FoodCorps
Eschmeyer “wants kids to know that food comes from the earth, not from a plastic wrapper,” wrote Food & Wine magazine, which named her one of the most innovative women in food and drink last year. She is also a recipient of the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award for her school food reform efforts.
“From classrooms and gardens to kitchens and farms, Deb has made learning about nutrition fun and accessible for kids across the country,” said First Lady Michelle Obama in a press release.
Here’s to a healthy generation of kids to come!
Photo: FoodCorps
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