The Hall County school system, in Georgia, is bringing local food into local schools, thankfully with help from a grant given by the state Department of Agriculture and Department of Education.
75 to 100 percent Georgia-grown meals will be in school lunches one week next spring because of the The Feed My School for a Week grant. Hall County’s Wauka Mountain Multiple Intelligences Academy was chosen for a pilot program, along with a school in both Bleckley and Colquitt counties.
The goal of this project is to try it for a week and see how it can be multiplied to serve schools for up to 36 weeks.
The grant is part of Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black’s farm-to-school campaign.
“This is a great leap forward to help show young Georgians where the food they eat is grown,” Black said in a news release. “Through this program, students will learn about the processes taken to bring their school meals from a local Georgia farm to the cafeteria table while simultaneously receiving a healthy, delicious meal.”
Cookie Palmer, Hall County Schools’ nutrition program director says,
“The reality of food is that it doesn’t grow in a store, it grows from a farm. That’s the connection we’re all trying to make.”
Although Georgia is a great pilot state because they rank fourth in fruit and vegetable production in the U.S., there is hope for the rest of the United States. In conjunction with education about local agriculture, small business practices and nutritional education children will learn most importantly where their food comes from.
