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"  There are 6.5 million children in America who would probably love to eat their vegetables, if only they could get some. They live in &amp;quot;food deserts,&amp;quot; low-income areas where families often have to travel more than a mile to find a supermarket and end up relying on fast-food joints and convenience stores for meals. Former chef Sandra McLean is dedicated to fixing this problem in New York City, where the wealthy dine on exotic produce in some of the world&amp;#039;s best restaurants. Meanwhile, Sandra says, &amp;quot;some of the kids we serve have never eaten a fresh peach or a raw tomato.&amp;quot; She teamed up with Slow Food NYC, a chapter of the national organization that plants or maintains 300 gardens and helps feed 34,000 children nationwide each year. In 2010, she took charge of creating three gardening programs in low-income areas of New York. &amp;quot;I saw kids show up eating chips and candy bars for breakfast. I was worried they wouldn&amp;#039;t like the food we were growing, because it wasn&amp;#039;t what they were used to,&amp;quot; Sandra says. &amp;quot;But they&amp;#039;d devour anything they helped grow.&amp;quot; The kids literally licked their plates \u2014 because fresh-from-the-ground produce is delicious, but also because plenty of them were truly hungry. With Sandra&amp;#039;s help, Slow Food NYC has opened more gardens all over the city. She even launched a similar program in South Africa last year. And she insists that gardening (and feeding the hungry) is easier than people think: &amp;quot;You can grow food out of anything that will hold soil and water, like a pickle jar or even a cardboard box. Start with carrots, basil, and tomatoes, because they&amp;#039;re fun and easy to grow. We can help feed our communities \u2014 it can begin in a vacant lot, at school, or in our own backyards.&amp;quot; To further the cause, give whatever you can at slowfoodusa.org/donate. 4 MORE WAYS TO PITCH IN: 1. Enteryour zip code at acga.localharvest.org to find a community garden near you that could use your help planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables. 2. Download the AmpleHarvest.org smartphone app (ampleharvest.org/iPhone.php or ampleharvest.org/Android.php) to find food pantries in your area that accept fresh produce \u2014 it can come from the grocery store or from your own garden. 3. Askyour child&amp;#039;s principal to join the National Farm to School Network (farmtoschool.org/states.php), which connects schools with nearby farms to get more local fruits and veggies onto children&amp;#039;s lunch trays. 4. Score free seeds from the America the Beautiful Fund. Their Operation Green Plant program gives vegetable and herb seeds to anyone starting a community garden. To get growing, visit america-the-beautiful.org/free_seeds. Then share your bounty. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/charity/tips/a13839/help-children-get-healthy-food/?link=rel&dom=yah_life&src=syn&con=blog_redbook&mag=rbk>