November 15, 2003
Milk Club member Jacob Nelson works toward another milkshake. Photo by Kat Gorman
By Carol Ballew, PhD, Director, Epicenter, Alaska Native Health Board
Kat Gorman, front-end manager of the Muddy Rudder Restaurant in Dillingham, noticed children of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers, with cavities, missing teeth, and extensive dental work. She saw children drinking lots of pop, starting with pop in their baby bottles. She started encouraging children to choose milk by offering them a free milkshake if they drank 12 glasses of milk in the restaurant.
The idea took off and now she has nearly 300 children signed up, including residents of Dillingham and children who visit town from the surrounding villages.
Someone in town started calling them the Milk Club.
Kat recently added pregnant and nursing mothers to the Milk Club; they can earn a milkshake for themselves or accumulate points for their babies.
Kat says many children in the Milk Club have switched entirely from pop to milk, at least in the restaurant, while others still drink some pop. The Club has several multi-milkshake winners, including Marie and Jackie Hoyt, daughters of the cook in the Muddy Rudder.
The Milk Club has worked so well at the Muddy Rudder that others are starting to jump on the bandwagon. Third and fourth graders at the Koliganek Village school have started their own club and the New Stuyahok Village school is considering starting a club in the coming school year.
Koliganek students drank 60 glasses of milk each during the school year and had a milkshake party at the end of the school year.
Most continued to drink milk after they accumulated their 60 glasses and most learned the benefits of drinking milk instead of pop. Kat sent the Koliganek Milk Club students gift certificates for a free milkshake at the Muddy Rudder when they come through Dillingham.
Kat is always on the lookout for incentives to encourage the children to continue drinking milk. She is hoping to receive a bike and scooters from an Alaska milk producer and has contacted the California Fluid Milk Processor Advisory Board, famous for the "Got Milk?" campaign, for promotional materials.
From the Alaska Native Health Board newsletter.