| Cooking & Kids (P121C&K)  |
 Vlada
Vladic (P122VV) |
Conquering
childhood obesity
Vlada was born in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina under Communism’s
rule. There, her parents and grandparents raised and introduced her at
a very young age to the delights of food and cooking. It was Vlada’s
grandmother who exposed Vlada to the basics of spirituality and
cooking, fueling her growing faith and interest in the secrets of
healthy cooking. Vlada wrote, “Cooking for my family was one way of
showing them how much I love and care for them. They taught me to
appreciate God and His earth’s bounties, using farm-fresh ingredients
to prepare meals.” Vlada often refers to her childhood as a preliminary
course in the most important subjects in her life!
The next step
in Vlada’s
journey took her to Belgrade where she
enrolled and studied for two years in preliminary medical school.
Simultaneously, she applied to avio-electro-mechanics school within the
Yugoslavian National Army, which accepted her in1986 as the very first
of very few women. After graduation, Vlada began to dream about going
to the USA, a dream that became reality in 1989.
After coming to the USA, Vlada married her husband Mike, and continued
to follow her passion for cooking by opening her first restaurant in
1994, and her second restaurant in 1995. From 1999 to 2009, Vlada
helped Mike manage their successful California construction and
development company.
Vlada’s love for cooking, caring and nurturing felt challenged, and
revived even stronger after her two beautiful children, Michaela and
Marko, now her cooking companions, were born in 2004 and 2005. Alarming
statistics on children's health and family well-being in America
initiated her struggle to accept what statistics are confirming:
American children are getting sick, losing their health, and some are
even dying because of poor food, not to mention their many other faith,
life and moral issues and struggles.
For all these reasons, Vlada began developing her Cooking and Kids
initiative in 2009. In 2010 Vlada officially launched Cooking and Kids
as a California LLC, and produced its first educational cooking
programs for public television. Cooking and Kids aims "to help America
to conquer childhood obesity and related diseases, prepare children to
pass healthy lifestyles to our next generation, and to enable young
families to make permanent changes in their daily diets and lives." It
envisions American families, especially children, being healthy and
happy. Practically, Vlada is providing fun, hands-on cooking
experiences to train kids in basic food nutrition, practical everyday
living, and helpful decision making.
Cooking and Kids has continued to broaden its fight against childhood
obesity and to influence mothers’ and children’s lives. Thanks to the
great reviews of Vlada’s first educational cooking programs, Vlada’s
story and initiative have been published in area newspapers, and she
has been invited to produce additional series of Cooking and Kids
episodes for public television stations. Meanwhile, Vlada trains
community mothers and children at her home, offers after-school
enrichment classes, and is also developing her helpful website at www.cookingandkids.info,
which features Cooking and Kids burden and
charter, healthy food choices, unique and healthy recipes and products,
class schedules, and more.
Contact CVI˛
Community
Vision International
Mailing
address: P.O. Box 33286 —
Portland, OR
97292-3286 USA
Telephone: 951-303-0136 or 503-253-0931 —
Telefax: 951-303-0136 or 503-517-1889
Web site: http://www.cvi2.org
— Contact CVI˛
