KELOWNA – It’s been a big week for Hannah Robertson.
The Kelowna girl has gained the attention of news organizations such as CNN and in Kelowna because she has just returned from a trip to Chicago where she spoke at the annual McDonald’s shareholders meeting.
“It was exciting and nerve wracking at the same time,” says the 9-year-old, “I got to speak what I was thinking in my mind and not many people would get to do that.”
What she was thinking was encouraging the fast food giant to offer more healthy options to kids.
“If you think about it, you think of McDonalds when you think of fast food and fast food isn’t the best for you. Healthy food is a lot better.”
Hannah and her mom Kia were invited to speak at the meeting because they are part of an online group called ‘Mom’s Not Loving It’ but Kia has been encouraging her daughter to eat healthy options for some time now through something she developed called Eat a Rainbow.
A program that encourages kids to eat more fruits and vegetable by eating all the colours of the rainbow, “Because each colour group is going to provide different sets of nutrients, so kids really benefit from eating all 5 colours.” explains Kia.
While, both Hannah and her mom acknowledge McDonald’s has come a long way in offering healthy options with things like fruit smoothies and apple slices in the Happy Meals, they say the company must do more and not specifically gear their fast food to kids.
Hannah says the fast food company is stop marketing to kids, “Take toys out of the Happy Meals and not using cartoon characters and sports icons.”
At the meeting, McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson reassured them both the food McDonald’s is serving is not junk food, adding his own children eat it.
But Hannah even had a response to that, “I gave him our business card and told him to email us about healthy eating ideas for McDonald’s.”
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