SUPERMARKET FEST PLANNED TO EDUCATE PARENTS ON NUTRITION

Parents will find a wealth of information about feeding and nurturing their children at Saturday's Supermarket Fest.

The event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Save-A-Lot, at Sprigg and William streets, will feature nutrition education and giveaways from the Healthy Children Nutrition Education Initiative and the debut of Parenting Corner, a display that provides information on raising children.

"People care about their kids. If you can show parents that their children need good nutrition to grow up healthy and strong, they will try to change their habits for their children's sake," said Fran Haupt, nutrition education coordinator for the initiative.

The problem is, Haupt said, many parents don't know what constitutes a healthy diet.

So she is putting on nutrition education programs at schools and events like Supermarket Fest.

At the event, stations will be set up throughout the store with nutrition information, samples, recipes and giveaways, including a drawing for five $100 gift certificates, Haupt said.

In the produce department there will be a "Five a Day" booth promoting the importance of eating fruits and vegetables and showing how to easily incorporate them into the diet.

People complain nutritious foods cost more, but they can buy an apple for 22 cents while a candy bar costs 50 cents, Haupt said.

In the cereal aisle will be a "Grab More Grains" booth where parents will be shown that cereal makes a more nutrition snack than potato chips, Haupt said.

The booths inside the store will be aimed at adults. For children, there will be a tent outside the store with nutrition education games like food group Twister, which has kids putting their hand or foot on pictures of food instead of colored circles.

Haupt said educating children about nutrition helps reinforce what their parents will learn inside the store.

"If kids ask for things like apples or cereal, parents are more likely to buy them," Haupt said. "And if you can get children in the habit of healthy eating early, they will carry it through the rest of their lives."

Also at Save-A-Lot on Saturday will be the debut of a Parenting Corner display, a large table-top display that will be set up permanently at the supermarket. On the display is information, mostly in the form of free brochures, on a wide range of parenting issues, from caring for an infant to talking to teen-agers.

"The idea is to bring parenting information to families," said Leah Shrum, prevention advocate for the Community 2000 Prevention Support Center and a coordinator for Parenting Corners, which will also be placed at eight other sites in the area. "If parents are more knowledgeable, it can help prevent abuse, help with relationships, help reduce violence."

The Parenting Corners are funded through a $12,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Child Support Enforcement and put together by ParentLink, a coalition of government, business and social service agencies to provide parenting resources.

Other table-top Parenting Corners are at the University Extension office on South Hope Street in Jackson and at the soon-to-open Family Resource Center, 1000 S. Sprigg.

The Parenting Corner at the Family Resource Center will also have a computer on which parents can access the ParentLink Web site for more information.

Bulletin board Parenting Corners will be set up at Missouri Mentoring at the Private Industry Council, 760 S. Kingshighway; Department of Family Services, 130 S. Frederick; Cross Trails Medical Center, 937 Broadway, Suite 203; Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, 1121 Linden; East Missouri Action Agency, 1111 Linden; and Cape Girardeau Library, 711 N. Clark. There is also a ParentLink center in the Generations Department at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

All those sites will have a phone available where parents can call a toll-free line to ParentLink to ask questions or check out books and video and audio tapes. The loaned materials must be mailed back, but there will be a drop box at the Family Resource Center for parents who can't afford postage.