The Cupertino Courier
News
Even ball field snack bars can be healthy, parents say
By ANNE WARD ERNST
At a time when school districts across the country are knocking out sodas and candy from campus vending machines and cafeterias, a local team of Little League mothers took a swing of its own at unhealthy food.
Last year Dana Stern and Marcia Kearns, with the help of some others, took over the Cupertino National Little League snack shack at Kennedy Middle School. They were tired of rubbery hot dogs being one of the few offerings and knew they could do better. The children of parents who had been running the snack shack a few years ago moved on when their children stopped playing in the league, and after that, the quality went down.
"For a couple years, no one wanted to step up to the plate," Stern says.
Sterns says when a child is in Little League, families spend a lot of time at the fields.
"When you're stuck there two or three nights a week and you're there from 5 to 8 at night, you can't go home and start cooking at 8 at night," she says.
So Stern and Kearns tossed out all the old equipment, hired a professional cleaning crew and bought a few new pieces of equipment. They came up with a menu of fresh, nutritious food which has advanced this year to include grilled-to-order hamburgers, chicken and Gardenburgers. There is a large Asian and Indian population in the area that is vegetarian or doesn't eat beef, so Stern and Kearns made sure to include a couple of non-beef and vegetarian items.
"We didn't want Gardenburgers to be the only thing we offered," Stern says.
Soup is purchased from a catering company regularly, and the snack shack also sells baked potatoes with several toppings, Caesar salad and chili; on special occasions, tri-tip is on the menu. A blender whips up smoothies, and they still sell a few things for the sweet tooth such as brownies and root beer floats. Candy is available, but the selection has been slimmed down considerably.
The women shop for fresh groceries a couple of times a week and make sure everything is stored properly. Stern took a food safety class a few years ago when she and her family were running a food booth at a 4-H Club, so she has passed on that knowledge. Food is cooked to proper temperatures, and things are kept clean.
When the health department swept in for a surprise inspection, the snack shack passed with flying colors, she says.
"Now we look at other snack shacks and think it's amazing they aren't getting sick," Stern says.
Other changes include recycling containers to collect cans and bottles. A setback occurred a few months ago when the snack shack was pried open like a can and the safes inside were broken into. Not much money was ever kept in the safe so the thief didn't get much, but now no money is kept on the premises.
Each family of a Little Leaguer is expected to work two nights at the snack shack during the season. That doesn't always work out, so some, like Stern and Kearns, spend more time there than others.
"It's like a part-time job. It's kind of a labor of love. We want our Little League community to feel good about it," Stern says.
She adds they'd like to share their experience and knowledge with other leagues in the area to help them achieve the same success.
"If any other snack shack wants to contact us, they can. It's not that hard. We're getting it down to a science."
