'Shopping Matters' at ShopRite in West Hartford

Community Renewal Team (CRT) recently partnered with the West Hartford to provide an innovative, educational nutrition class to parents with children in CRT programs in observance of National Nutrition Month.

The "Shopping Matters®" grant-funded program provides a guided grocery store tour that gives families shopping tools aimed at boosting nutritional intake while staying within a manageable budget. Participants in the program learn how to compare unit prices and nutritional information among fresh and packaged food options throughout the store. Tour coordinators demystify product advertising terms like "multi-grain" and "all natural" and also review ingredient listings on food labels to foster a better understanding of real nutritional content in food products. 

ShopRite’s Registered Dietician Angie Corcoran led the tour along with CRT’s Health & Nutrition Manager Kittie Spedding and CRT Health & Nutrition Coordinator Andrea Greaney. The participants started off in the conference room at ShopRite to begin going over the guidelines and tip sheets and to gain insight into the program’s experience.

At the end of the tour, participants apply their knowledge on the spot with a "healthy shopping challenge." For the challenge, each person is given a $10 gift card to be used in the store to purchase the best healthy foods options that satisfy nutrition requirements for a whole family. After shopping, the program coordinators go through the nutrition checklist to make sure they got the best bang for their shopping bucks.

The Shopping Matters Grant is provided by the national nonprofit organization Share Our Strength® that focuses on ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children and their families with nutritious food needed to lead healthy, active lives. The Shopping Matters® program is offered throughout the U.S. and works in communities by bringing adults directly to the grocery store and providing a dynamic learning experience will enable participants to make real changes to their food shopping habits.

Families learn key food shopping skills such as buying fruits and vegetables on a budget, comparing unit prices, reading food labels and identifying whole grains. For more information on the program, visit www.strength.org.

Community Renewal Team, Inc. is the designated Community Action Agency for Middlesex and Hartford Counties and is the largest non-profit provider of human services in Connecticut. The agency’s mission is Preparing Our Community to Meet Life’s Challenges. The mission is achieved each day by helping people and families become self-sufficient while making sure basic needs are met. CRT’s programs include Head Start, Meals on Wheels, energy assistance, supportive housing and shelters, and many others, serving people in more than 60 cities and towns in both our core catchment area and throughout Connecticut. www.crtct.org

Submitted release.