Eat Smart, Keep Fit Campaign Draft Council Letter

A few adjustments have been made to the original letter, but by no means is this finished:

Some slightly stronger language, inclusion of our name, inclusion of results of research, reference to petition, restructure of paragraphs.

I (Joe) will still save all of the other copies, if anybody ever wants them back.

Council draft letter

Uni address

Dear _________

We are a group called ‘Eat Smart, Keep Fit’ and we’ve been looking in to the eating habits of young people in your jurisdiction. First of all I would like to compliment you on your school dinners; we have studied the menus of various schools and have been impressed by what is on them and have been informed it is due to council regulations.

However we have done independent research and found some disgusting results that you need to look at: These are all secondary schools students whom you would assume have more sense than this but what can you expect when there are 10 fast food shops within a three minute walk of the station? The students have often described school dinners as "tasteless" and admitted that the prices of a junk food are so low it makes them buy it.
 * · On a study of two different schools we found that: at the first 80% of the children we asked said they preferred fish and chips to school dinners.
 * · Of the many children who wait for the bus at the station; 70% enter one of 10 fast food shops in the proximity.
 * · In a study of a different school with slightly younger children more than 50%, on their journey home, purchased fast food.

The government itself has identified this as a problem, which is highlighted by their decision to impose a fine on anybody trying to open a fast food restaurant. But we believe it should not stop there as a battle with obesity amongst school children continues. Much more has to be done in order to teach those kids healthier eating habits.

The government prohibits the selling of alcohol and cigarettes to young people and although we are not suggesting junk food should not be sold at all to young people in a way the aforementioned products are we do believe something should be done. Therefore we have concluded that between the times of 3.30pm and 5pm fast food should not be sold to any child wearing school uniform. We strongly believe that this will both prevent and deter young people from buying fast food on their way home from school.

This is at the very least what could be done. We have identified this as a very real issue and you can see from the support we have received in the space of just a few weeks that this is something people care about. We implore you to act now.

You already regulate what the children eat at school, why; because you care about their health. It only makes sense then that you would register this as a problem and would do something about it afterwards too. If not it poses the question; do you really care?

Yours hopefully,

______