Salad bar donated to elementary school

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Students who attend a South Florida elementary school will now have healthier choices for lunch.

The lunch ladies at Sunset Park Elementary School are giving the students what they want. A brand new salad bar was donated to the school by a non-profit organization called Produce for Kids. "This is giving back to our communities, and this is a way to teach young people the importance of eating fruits and vegetables and sustaining the industry going forward," said president and founder of Produce for Kids, John Shuman.

First lady Michelle Obama has made combating childhood obesity her mission. Two years ago, she came to South Florida to kick off the campaign to bring salad bars into schools. "Children get free and reduced meals to students. We know, in some cases, these are the only healthy meals these kids get," said Miami-Dade Schools regional Superintendent Dr. Alex Martinez.

The program seems to be working, as the kids are enjoying the salad bar concept. "We had a food tasting, and ever since that happened the line at the salad bar is getting bigger and bigger each day," said student Brianna Santodomingo.

Parents said they are seeing an improvement in their children's eating habits at school and at home. "They see their friends eating from the salad bar, and that's the peer pressure that gets them to want to do the same, and make the good healthy choices," said parent and teacher Michelle Fernandez.

"My mom keeps on telling me to eat from the salad bar, and I've already been secretly eating from the salad bar," said Sabela Fernandez.

Produce for Kids has donated 1,600 salad bars to schools around the country. Publix is one of it's biggest supporters.

(Copyright 2012 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)