Start kids eating healthy now. How? Let them learn to grow, harvest and cook.

Before each of her classes starts at Pacific Elementary School in South Sacramento, Amber Stott directs her students in a singing cheer.

This isn’t a music class – this is all about healthy eating.

She yells, “fruits and veggies are the best” and her class of about 30 elementary school students responds with, “they are the best!”

Stott, CEO and a “food genius” with the nonprofit Food Literacy Center, is doing her part to inspire Sacramento youth to eat their fruits and vegetables through a program in partnership with the Sacramento Unified School District.

“I wanted to go into food literacy because I didn’t see the problem being addressed,” Stott said. “It’s important to teach kids (when they’re) young about healthy eating habits.”

Food genius is her preferred title – which is fitting for the knowledge she spreads to about 400 elementary school students across eight schools in the district. All of the schools are considered Title l – meaning they have a high concentration of students from low-income families.

Next year the program plans to expand its operations by opening an acre garden at Leataata Floyd Elementary School near the Mill at Broadway in downtown Sacramento and use it and adjoining space to teach youngsters how to grow, harvest and cook vegetables.

In its request to Book of Dreams, Food Literacy is seeking $3,000 for kid-sized gloves, garden tools, watering cans, a wheelbarrow and other materials for that new operation.

Stott graduated from the University of Illinois, where she studied African and women’s studies. She moved to Sacramento in 2001 but recalled growing up in Illinois and having to drive to Iowa to get produce.

In Sacramento, no one has to go very far to find fresh food.

“We have so many beautiful fruits and vegetables right here,” Stott said. “I was shocked by how little people were accessing these foods when I first moved here.”

America is consumed by fast food, unhealthy eating and lack of education about food nutrition, she said. The Food Literacy Center hopes to change that and inspire kids to learn about vegetables through classroom talks as well as hands-on experience growing and cooking.

“Over 50 percent of people are sick due to their diet,” Stott said. “If we start kids while they are young, they won’t develop those unhealthy habits.”

One of the students at Stott’s recent after-school presentation was second-grader Gianna. She appreciates her vegetables and gave a giant thumbs up and smiled when asked if she likes eating them.

On this particular day, the students learned how to make a salad. Before chopping up the vegetables and putting the salad together, the students learned the different parts of the vegetables and what they meant. They were also quizzed after class about what they learned.

Stott relies on many volunteers to help her achieve the center’s goals.

“Volunteers are critical because we only have five staff,” Stott said. “We are always in need of volunteers. They make such a big impact on the kids.”

The center has more than 100 volunteers, including a handful of “food geniuses” – people who have attended a 28-hour food literacy training program.

As a nonprofit, the Food Literacy Center relies on donations to stay afloat.

“We wouldn’t be here without the support of the community,” Stott said. “We are a very small nonprofit and we rely very much on what the community donates.”

The request

Needed: Kid-sized gloves, garden tools, watering cans, a wheelbarrow and other materials for new garden

Cost: $3,000