Grant subsidizes 2.6 million local food meals for Oregon school kids

Local farmers, food processors to profit from cooking for young students, says Ecotrust

A grant secured by nonprofit Ecotrust is going to subsidize more than 2.6 million meals made this school year with Oregon grown and processed foods for thousands of the state's young students.

The funds are coming from the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund at the Northwest Health Foundation and will bolster existing efforts by Ecotrust's Food and Farms program to bring more regionally produced food into two distinct school districts in the immediate school year.

The expanded Harvest of the Month program will launch next month in the state's largest district, Portland Public Schools, and in the smaller, rural Gervais School District, about 30 miles south of Portland.

As part of the program, students will see colorful "Harvest of the Month" posters in the classroom depicting farmers as heroes, and "produce as pop art."

Starting in October, for one day each month Portland Public Schools will transform an entire meal with locally sourced foods, inviting kids and teachers to enjoy a "Local Lunch."

Parents will be encouraged to follow along with the Harvest of the Month calendar and purchase the same foods their kids are eating at school from local grocery retailers to serve at home.

The two distinct districts were selected for the initial study based on significant populations of vulnerable students, measured by high percentages of children eligible for free and reduced meals.

The grant will also kickoff a six-month study to measure both the impact of nourishing school children with fresh seasonal produce and locally processed foods, and the effect of pumping budget money spent on feeding the students back into the local economy.

"Portland is the first large, urban school district in the country to make such substantial gains in the farm to school programming," said Kristy Obbink, director of nutrition services for Portland Public Schools. This process has inspired us to incorporate local ingredients in products that we use every day, such as the Northwest grown wheat in almost all of our baked goods."

The grant also recognized that the nutrition service directors in both districts have demonstrated farm-to-school leadership at the local, state and national levels, showing their commitment to executing the program effectively.

In preparation for the new program, Portland and Gervais school food service directors spent months in the field forging relationships with local farmers willing to grow fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables for harvest during the school's calendar year, or frozen in peak season, in the case with Oregon berries.

"We're reinventing the lunchroom one meal at a time and excited to show what a little more money spent on school food can do to form life-long healthy eating habits among school aged children," said Obbink.

The study will also provide a test of policy concepts originally introduced in the 2007 Oregon legislative session to reimburse schools for purchasing Oregon agricultural products.

Data gathered from the pilot will provide the 2009 Oregon State Legislature with hard evidence to consider a similar proposal this January.

The Kaiser Permanente Community Fund at the Northwest Health Foundation was established in late 2004 to advance the health of the communities served by health care provider Kaiser Permanente Northwest, serving almost a half million people in Oregon and southwest Washington.

One of five major program areas of the Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit Ecotrust, the Food & Farms Program has been involved with building direct market connections between farmers, ranchers, and fishermen and restaurant chefs, grocery buyers, institutions and distributors for the past seven years.

Last year, Ecotrust was named the Western Regional Lead Agency for the National Farm to School Network, extending its sphere of influence as a farm to school leader across eight Western states.

Ecotrust in the News

Grant subsidizes 2.6 million local food meals for Oregon school kids

Local farmers, food processors to profit from cooking for young students, says Ecotrust

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