The School Nutrition Association of Arizona

SNAAZ - These letters stand for the School Nutrition Association of Arizona, an alliance of over 1000 Arizona school food service employees and supporters.

We are a state affiliate to the School Nutrition Association (SNA), which represents over 53,000 individuals who have made a commitment to child nutrition. Through this national association, we are able to

• Promote the highest standards for child nutrition programs,
• Provide leadership training and other professional development opportunities to our members, and
• Communicate important issues of common concern to members

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Join your fellow School Nutrition Professionals at this year's dynamic Professional Growth Conference being held at the Prescott Resort on February 24th and 25th. House of Delegates will he held Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. followed by games of Bunco and "Left, Right, Center" for our annual fundraising. Our keynote speaker is Dayle Hayes who is an award-winning author, educator and nutrition coach. In her writing and presentations, she brings a delightful blend of practicality and pizzazz to everyday nutrition advice. As a parent, nutritionist and member of the School Nutrition Association, Dayle is dedicated to improving school nutrition environments. She collected dozens of school success stories for Making it Happen, a joint project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

After listening to Dayle you will enjoy the variety of awesome breakout sessions offered. Try your hand at crafting cards to boost morale among your staff, or find out how to improve your customer service skills, maybe you would like to embrace new technology and learn to Twitter. There will also be a session dedicated to chapter officers learning to run an efficient meeting with ideas to improve your SNAAZ Chapter as a whole. Directors and Supervisors are invited to sessions dedicated to navigating the new regulations and upcoming changes from USDA.

Debbie Gasiorek and Connie Parmenter
Professional Growth Chair and Co-Chair

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Announcing a School Recipe Contest for SNAAZ members
Harmony Valley Foods wants you to create a school lunch recipe using our Harmony Valley Low Sodium Ranch Dressing. It was introduced at the Waves of Change conference to SNAAZ members. We are looking for originality and ease of use in a school setting. Think out the box!

Kids love Ranch flavor. Product samples will be provided to any SNAAZ member wishing to participate, just call Debbie at 800-898-5457 ext. 103 to request samples. Contest entries will be accepted through February 24th 2011. The winner will be announced in the next Cactus Trails newsletter and receive a $100 Visa Gift Card. Submit your recipes to Kevin.Wilson@gilbertschools.net and please copy dwebb@customblending.com (included in the link).