For many kids in North Carolina, the breakfast and lunch they get at school are the two daily meals they can count on receiving. So it's essential that these meals contain the freshest, most nutritious food possible. Supplying locally grown food to schools and encouraging kids to taste and learn about how it is grown has a dual benefit. It ensures that kids eat well now and in the future, and it provides local farmers with a large, dependable market for selling what they grow.
Schools in North Carolina face extreme challenges in feeding kids well. Budgets are tight, staff and resources are stretched thin, and yet schools are mandated by law to provide vegetables to students. To manage, most contract with large food distributors who often offer frozen or canned vegetables. Many would like to buy from North Carolina farmers because fresher food is better for the kids and doing so supports local economies - but the cost has been prohibitive.
Farmer Foodshare's Wholesale Market sources and delivers fresh food grown by local farmers to schools, removing many of the barriers schools face in providing nutritious meals. To ensure that kids try the fruits and vegetables, our volunteer Food Ambassadors conduct taste tests of the foods that will appear in the cafeteria, letting the kids vote. They also teach kids about the foods - how they're grown and why they're beneficial - building enthusiasm for fresh food at a young age.
This project will enable students in Durham Public Schools to taste and learn about fresh food each week, setting the stage for a lifetime of healthy eating. These efforts are changing the local food system: helping local farms sell more of what they grow and providing the nutrition and education students need to thrive.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
