School Lunches

I'm finding that as I continue my plantstrong journey, I see outlets for furthering exposure to others. #1 is school lunches, especially in urban core schools where obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are rampant! As I look into this, I'm finding some interesting issues and opportunities. Here are some thoughts.

There is a national Farm to School advocacy effort. One national organization is FarmtoSchool.org and they work to connect local farmers to school districts to help bring healthy and fresh foods to school lunch tables. Apparently, NJ has an effort going with a state Farm to School program in the NJ Dept. of Agriculture. NJ is, after all, the Garden State, and super tasty fresh produce is available in abundance here! There was a recent conference in the state and this website has a great deal of info on "how to" connect farm to school and build a supply chain.

The US Dept. of Agriculture is about to implement new nutritional regs for school meals as part of the 2010 legislation for Healthy Kids. School Districts will have to work with their food suppliers, cafeteria kitchens, and state offices to revamp menus to make them healthy. Some districts are way ahead of the curve. Here in NJ there are several vendors that already take advantage of bulk produce buying and stock the cafeterias of hundreds of schools Informative article in the Courier Post today

One of the issues about fresh food is cost. The NJ vendors quoted prices of $2.75 and $2.50 for lunches purchased in schools. These prices provide students with options such as turkey blt, fruit bar, and fresh veggies. Apparently when kids are paying for their lunch, there are many more options than the prepared standard tray that urban school kids get. In the school where I volunteer in Camden the kids all get the same lunch preloaded onto a tray. While this year's fare is a big, big improvement over last year - adding whole grain buns and fresh fruits - it is far from great. In Camden, kids are on free lunches. The government pays for their lunch. According to the USDA, reimbursement rates for free lunches are $2.72. If the kids in Voorhees can pay $2.75 and get fruit bars and Cesar salads, why can't the kids in Camden have the same?

I also came across a story about how diet can be a big factor in AHDD and that diet not drugs should be the first line of approach. Every urban school district needs to give more attention to nutrition since they are the primary food source for many children during 2/3 of their potential meals for the day. I realize that education is priority #1 and they have a great deal of difficulty managing success. But as a school DISTRICT that is the administrative operation, the question of how food is supplied, the source, and the content needs to be addressed.

Many areas around the country have CSA - Community Supported Agriculture co-ops. Schools can be co-op members and schools can help parents learn about joining and overcoming the inequities of urban food deserts.

We tend to be so silo-ed in our work. The school people are busy over in their area. The CSA and farm people are busy growing crops. The Food to School folks are a bridge, but they need support from parents, administrators, teachers, and students to get nutrition on the table in our schools. Here is an example group that I follow in Los Angeles - School Garden Co-Op. Even DonorsChoose has gotten involved in supporting agriculture/nutrition in schools as part of the causes they enable support for.

Vegans and plantstrong advocates could be a huge support network for this work. Get involved!