Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Vegetables: sweet potatoes
Practices
- Education and Training: demonstration, focus group, youth education
- Farm Business Management: farm-to-institution
- Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, community services
Summary:
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Bistro Kids Farm 2 School Program is designed to support Good Natured Family Farm’s alliance of 150 local small family farms, through the purchase of their locally grown foods. GNFF members that raise fruits and vegetables use organic farming practices and use IPM. The produce farms vary in size from small plots of vegetables to large acreage fruit orchards. GNFF alliance members that raise livestock do not use antibiotics, growth hormones, and are free-range. GNFF milk, cheese, and meats are raised and processed on the family farm.
Good Natured Family Farm Alliance was formed in 2004 with only a few members and has grown to over 150 family farms. All of the farms implement sustainable farming practices.
This project helped support a market for their sustainably raised; fruits and vegetables, milk, cheese, meats, honey, and whole grains.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
GOALS:
1. To provide healthy lunches to students at Acadamie Lafayette (K-8) and Plaza Del Nino’s* a headstart school program.
2. To have the healthy school lunches be made up of a minimum of 40 percent locally grown foods.
3. To serve the healthy school lunches for 7 days (the days can be for 7 consecutive days or one day per week for 7 weeks depending on the school schedule.
4. To host a Good Food Fair featuring locally grown foods, local farmers, and healthy foods.
5. For GNFF alliance farmers to increase the volume of locally grown food sold (especially fruits and vegetables).
6. To include hands-on learning to promote long-term healthy eating habits.
7. To show teachers, parents, and administrators that school lunches can be meals that are kid friendly, healthy, seasonal, locally grown, simply delicious, and affordable.
*Note: Plaza Del Nino’s was substituted for Operation Breakthrough. Both serve low income pre-school age children.
PROCESS
The following steps were implemented for Academie Lafayette and Plaza Del Nino’s.
Step 1. Develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between all participants. Academie Lafayette; Bistro Kids, Academie Lafayette and Plaza Del Nino’s, and Good Natured Family Farms. Attachment 1 illustrates a MOU.
Step 2. Major points to address include; a) student allergies (attachment 2), and b) the menu meets USDA federal guidelines (attachment 3), and parental consent for photos and use.
Step 3. Develop a parental informational flyer and school lunch menu to send home with the students. Attachment 4 illustrates an informational flyer and attachment 5 shows a Bistro Kids healthy menu.
Step 4. Develop record keeping for lunch reimbursement, food cost, labor cost, and other expenses. Attachment 6 is an example of school lunch reimbursement.
Note: The plan at Academie Lafayette was to expand and add a cafeteria. Earlier the kitchen had been converted to 3 classrooms. However, funding did not go through. Current vendor for the school is Treat America and they agreed to bring in hand washing sink and steam table and all other equipment required to serve the lunch without a working cafeteria.
Step 5. Coordinate with GNFF farmers for Good Food Fair.
Step 6. Develop a flyer for announcement of Good Food Fair. See attachment 7 and 8.
Step 7. Provide a Bistro/GNFF cookbook to students and staff, attachment 9.
Step 8. Provide a staff and student survey, attachment 10.
Step 9. Compile survey results and program highlights.
Step 10. Attachment 11 Bistro Kids recap flyer. Photos are included*.
Note: *Photos rather than a video are included in the final report. The reason the video was not completed is Mathew Stonebraker, UMKC video arts student, passed away unexpectedly and the rough footage was not edited and finished.
PEOPLE
Jeff Adair, New Grass Bison, Good Food Fair
Tony Schwager, Anthony’s Beehive, Good Food Fair
Terry Landes, Prairie Land Dairy, Good Food Fair
Charlie and Debbie NovoGradic, Charlie Chestnuts, Good Food Fair
Deniese Cumings, Cowgirl Kate Kids entertainment, Good Food Fair
Del Houseworth, Produce Balls CW, Local Food Warehouse
Otavio Silva, Buy Fresh Buy Local, GNFF
Chris Shea, GNFF Operations, Local Food Distribution
School Staff and Parents, , Participation
David Ball, President Balls Food Stores, Support
Gretchen Kunkell, Kansas City Healthy Kids, Non-Profit Support Service
RESULTS
Outcomes: The project provided two schools a) Acadamie Lafayette charter school K-8 (480 students) and b) Plaza Del Ninos headstart and early learning school (85 students) of primarily free and reduced lunches with 3 weeks of locally grown healthy school lunches.
Teachers were surveyed at Acadamie Lafayette and results are summarized in Attachment 12.
Plaza Del Ninos are included in a comprehensive evaluation “Farm to School, School to Home:
An Evaluation of an Innovative Program at an Urban Core Head Start Preschool”. This evaluation was funded in-part by Kellogg Foundation and conducted by Dr. Cheryl Gibson, KUMC. See Attachment 13.
DISCUSSION
Lessons Learn, Challenges, and Successes are summarized in Attachment 14 ppt.
OUTREACH
See Attachment 15 video.
Also, in the next couple of weeks an updated video will be released to the public on GNFF/Bistro Farm to School of which this SARE grant was the starting point.