The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Aramark on Wednesday launched “Home Plate,” a research study that will seek to enhance the health and well-being of families by teaching parents how to cook healthy meals at home.
The Aramark Charitable Fund is providing a $750,000, three-year grant to fund the study. Aramark, based in Philadelphia, is a global provider of food services, facilities management and uniforms that generates annual revenues of $14 billion.
Home Plate will operate as part of CHOP’s Healthy Weight program. The cooking sessions will occur at The Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia.
Hospital officials said the initiative is designed to help combat childhood obesity in low-income families with preschoolers through a “community-engaged, peer mentor led model” to improve family health through good nutrition. An estimated 30 percent of children in the United States are overweight or obese by the time they reach school age, according to CHOP.
