SABATTUS — Dairy farmer Peter Waterman presented a check for $3,100 on behalf of all Maine dairy farmers to school nurse Ashley Nault in front of the student body at Oak Hill Middle School on Friday.

The check was the result of a Maine Fuel Up to Play 60 grant awarded to the school for its healthy eating and physical activity initiatives. Maine’s dairy farmers, as well as dairy farmers around the country, who pay into the national Dairy Checkoff program fund Fuel Up to Play 60 — a cooperative effort between the National Dairy Council and the NFL to promote lifelong healthy habits like eating a balanced diet and being active for a minimum of 60 minutes a day to school children. Grant funds are available each spring and fall to active FUTP60 schools and are administered by the Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council. The schools must show how the grant will be used to promote both healthy eating and physical activity, and the ideas are generated by the students. Nault is the Fuel Up to Play 60 program advisor for the school.

Oak Hill Middle School has purchased a “make-your-own” sandwich bar with its grant and will also purchase baskets and discs to create a disc golf course on the school grounds to engage more students in physical activity. Principal Marco Aliberti said the school has already seen an increase in the number of students participating in hot lunch with the addition of the sandwich bar, growing from about 150 to 160 students per day to almost 200. “It helps to add a healthy component and gives them healthier options,” he said.

Waterman’s farm with about 125 milk cows is just a short distance from the middle school. He said dairy farmers support Fuel Up to Play 60 “because it promotes two things – healthy eating and physical activity, and we think that is a win-win situation.”

FMI: fueluptoplay60.com.