Hidalgo County WIC along with WIC programs across the nation will deliver new child and family-friendly messages from the Sesame Street Muppets to aid in implementing the Program’s new WIC food packages. WIC’s new food packages include for the first time, fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, reduced-fat dairy options, and culturally appropriate food choices including tofu and soy beverage options which will transform the over 34 year nutrition program by expanding the food options that are available to WIC’s diverse populations.

Sesame Workshop and the National WIC Association’s healthy habits educational campaign has been launched to support the nutritional and health efforts that WIC clinics provide to the over 9 million mothers and young children who participate in WIC each month across the nation and as part of Sesame Workshop’s Healthy Habits for Life Initiative. As a way to introduce friendly and engaging healthy messages into each state’s new food package rollout, 3.6 million Sesame Street’s Healthy Habits for Life: Get Healthy Now multimedia outreach kits will be distributed to WIC families.

The Healthy Habits for Life (HHFL) outreach kit consists of an original DVD and storybook starring the Sesame Street Muppets: featuring “The Get Healthy Now Show” that encourages children with the help of their friends, Elmo, Telly, and Rosita, to explore ways to eat and drink so that they can play, learn, and grow up healthy, and a guide for parents and caregivers that contains strategies and hands-on activities for everyday and on the go. The outreach materials were originally produced in partnership with Nemours Health and Prevention Services and Kids Health.

The Hidalgo County WIC Program has already implemented the Healthy Habits for Life outreach kits throughout the County as part of their Border Bi-National Health Week initiative. Students attending Head Start Programs in Hidalgo County are learning about the importance of proper nutrition and exercise in the classroom through Sesame Street.