Portable meal cart donated to Tséhootsooí Primary School

By Tyson Hudson
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK – Kids tossed footballs, drew fruits and vegetables with markers, put stickers on apples, and played fruit-veggie bingo on Friday, Sept. 13, as Tséhootsooí Primary School celebrated the donation of a meal cart from three organizations.

Bashas’ Family of Stores, Chelan Fresh, and GENYOUth donated a Grab and Go meal cart to nine schools in the Navajo Nation to keep fruits, vegetables, and healthy snacks fresh for students. The organizations marked this occasion by coordinating a games and activity day with the Tséhootsooí school.

Steve Mayer, the president of Bashas’, and Bashas’ corporate managers attended the event, along with Bashas’ Diné Market directors from across the Navajo Nation. Representatives from Chelan Fresh, a Washington State company that supplies fruits to Bashas’, also attended the festivities.

Mayer said the collaboration took several years to complete, but they were able to donate meal carts to 12 schools in tribal communities across Arizona.

Mac Riggan, the Chelan Fresh vice president of sales and business development, said their company allocates money for carts to be distributed to communities in need. They worked with Bashas’ and GENYOUth to get the carts to nine Navajo Nation schools with a Bashas’ Diné Market in their community.

The meal cart is configured like a buffet table with metal trays on top to hold fruit, vegetables, and other food items. Underneath the metal trays are large reusable freezer packs to keep the items cold. The cart also has storage space underneath the buffet table.

“There’s no restrictions … on where it needs to go,” said Ashley Shick, the spokesperson for Bashas’. She added that using electricity can be a challenge in many tribal communities.

Mayer added that electricity is expensive, and the carts are cost-effective for schools because they don’t require a lot of maintenance like refrigerated storage units.

Corrinne Mitchell, the Bashas’ Diné Market director in Window Rock and other Bashas’ stores in the Navajo Nation, said she noticed how Bashas’ relationship with their Navajo customers changed over the years.

The store used to toss out candy from their parade floats at Navajo fair parades, Mitchell said, but now they hand out healthier options like water and fruits.

Mitchell said the meal carts will provide healthy snacks for students on the Navajo Nation before and after school.

Yvette Waters, Bashas’ dietitian and the senior manager of nutrition and sustainability, said it is crucial to get children to eat healthy at an early age because they will develop healthy eating habits and be less picky about food as they grow into adults.

Riggan said children’s access to healthy food like fruits is better than sugary drinks and sugary food.

Dave Goldtooth, the principal of Tséhootsooí Primary School, said the meal cart will be used for a variety of purposes like after-school programs, parent-teacher conferences, and parent involvement day.

Goldtooth said the event was all about the students, and it was great to see them laugh, smile, and be with their friends.

Third grader Daisy Wood said she liked putting stickers of eyes and mouths on the apples.

Another student disagreed. When kindergarteners played fruit-veggie bingo, an adult instructed them to place a bean on a picture of a bell pepper on their bingo card.

A girl looked up from her bingo card and declared, “I don’t like bell pepper!”

Afterward, Waters responded, “Totally get it…. We don’t like everything.”

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