Dear Oberlin Students and Parents, Sodexo is extremely excited and honored to be a member of the Oberlin community as your dining services provider. We are committed to delivering the best services, products and programs. Sodexo’s brand mission is to improve Quality of Life for our customers. This means we work diligently to further student well-being and achievement for your school district and community. As we begin a new school year, Sodexo stands ready to provide students with a healthy and delicious food program to help them develop and achieve. We have many plans to become involved in the Café as well as the classroom in areas around nutrition. One of our most important initiatives is to educate students about how to build a healthy plate with the right mix of foods. Sodexo is a strategic partner with USDA ChooseMyPlate, which models the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Dietary guidelines reflect the best scientific evidence and recommendations for daily nutritional practices for Americans 2 years and older. The USDA school meal programs model these recommendations. Recently, the USDA required significant changes to school meals in an effort to curb childhood obesity and promote better overall health through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kid’s Act (HHFKA). We are committed to providing healthy, delicious meals to the 2 million students we serve across the United States while also giving them the tools to make healthy choices throughout their lives. Additionally, Sodexo also recently announced our commitment to the Smarter Lunchroom Movement in partnership with Cornell University. The Smarter Lunchrooms Movement goal is to create sustainable research-based lunchrooms that guide smarter choices. In addition, several schools are completing an assessment to determine the impact of Smarter Lunchrooms tactics on student food selections and consumption. The assessment includes waste studies and tactics specifically focused on increasing student selection and consumption of fruits and vegetables. The Smarter lunchroom movement is all about making the healthy choice the easy choice for students. Our goal is to have all students take part in our school meal program. In our elementary and middle school lunch program, we offer five entree choices daily with our Kids Way Café and Did You Know Café program. It includes traditional hot entrees, salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Our signature Cross Roads Café program gives high school students endless variety through a number of exciting food options. All of the meals are planned using the USDA guidelines and are analyzed for nutrient content. We wish you the very best for your students’ academic year and we are excited to help Oberlin students achieve both in the classroom and in life with our outstanding school nutrition program. Please contact me with any questions. To learn more about Sodexo, visit http://www.SodexoUSA.com. Regards, Corinne Schoenbeck, Food Service Manager [email protected] 440-776-4523