Five to nine, every day

Friday, April 11, 2008
The Salad Sisters, front row, Candy Fischer and Grace Terry; and back row, Carolyn Quitno, Hannah Horn and Desiree Busey, perform a song and dance routine focused on the importance of getting a healthy five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day, during a skit performed at the Osage Prairie YMCA on Thursday.

Students in the "Five to Nine a Day" nutrition class for young children presented their message loud and clear -- eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day for optimum nutrition at the Osage Prairie YMCA Thursday evening.

For weeks -- 12 of them to be exact -- the group of children, from kindergartners to age 12, have been learning about nutrition while they prepared for the musical play they ultimately presented to a small crowd of parents, family, friends, and another group of about a dozen children who came to watch.

Throughout the program, children learned lines and musical routines, made their own costumes representing fruits and vegetables, with some even preparing for roles as news anchors, the President, and a doctor, who gave some expert testimony for the mock news production of "Five-a-Day Live."

"The kids were great. They did all of this themselves," said Dana Redburn, who spearheaded the production with the help of the children and many others. Not all of the children participated in the final production due to mitigating circumstances, but Redburn and other staff present said that all of the children had appeared to fully enjoy creating the presentation behind the scenes, and that all had learned something about nutrition along the way. The play opened with news anchors spreading the news -- five servings a day can help keep the body healthy. News anchors (portrayed by Grace Terry and Hannah Horn, talked over the matter with a doctor (portrayed by Desiree Busey) and with the President (portrayed by Carolyn Quitno) before the fruits and vegetables took over the show.

Five foods laden with vitamin C -- celery, a tomato, an apple, a banana and a strawberry -- performed a song and dance routine illustrating the importance of the nutrient and stressing vitamin C's role in health.

Next, the Salad Sisters took the stage with Candy Fischer in the lead. Dressed in lettuce costumes, the group talked about what kinds of vegetables might be found in a salad, noting that a large salad could provide as much as three of the five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables recommended.

The news report then continued, with Candace Berry conducting "man on the street" interviews to determine whether the audience had gotten the message. Audience members were paying attention -- those polled knew the correct answer.

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