A regional initiative to provide schools with extra funding to buy more locally grown fruits and vegetables for students has become a reality thanks to strong support from local businesses. The program, 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms, is starting this fall at Glen Lake Community Schools and the elementary schools of Traverse City Area Public Schools and Suttons Bay Public Schools.
An excerpt of this story from October 1, 2013, appears in our September 2017 Farm to School report, “Healthy Kids, Thriving Farms”, which celebrates Groundwork’s 15 years of catalyzing the farm to school movement in northern Michigan.
MLUI is so excited to introduce the two new FoodCorps service members who will be working from our office to promote and encourage local food and healthy eating at area schools. Here’s a brief hello from them both in their own words.
It’s hard to believe that we are just one month away from the Farm Bill expiring and yet highly partisan, polarized factions of Congress still have failed to pass a new bill. With one more week before Congress goes back in session, there’s no better time to contact your representatives to urge passage of a full five-year Farm Bill -one that different types of farms can plan around and that those of us who want to eat good local food can count on.
Michigan public school students will enjoy Michigan-grown fruit starting this school year, thanks to a partnership with Cherry Capital Foods and Chartwells School Dining Services.
Cotton candy and elephant ears are typical fare at fairs, but locally grown fruits and vegetables have become a new tradition with the Taste the Local Difference: Cooking with Kids at the Fair event at the Northwestern Michigan Fair.