Successful Fresh Food in Schools 2013 Summit - Thank you!

Fresh Food in Schools

... strengthening Farm to School in Washington State!

A SUCCESSFUL SUMMIT! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL INSPIRING STORIES!

It was a fun and inspiring day in Moses Lake, hearing the wonderful stories of hardworking farmers and cafeteria teachers connecting to ensure that our kids are eating fresh local food & learning new tips and strategies for strengthening Farm to School. For those of you who couldn't come Big Fish Productions videotaped the entire day so click here to access the videos. The powerpoints are linked below.

The Summit was a free opportunity for farmers, school food service staff, parents and community advocates to network and attend sessions on farm involvement, school cafeteria as classroom, and using the "geographic preference option" to purchase locally grown food.  Click here for the summit's  agenda. 

Smithson Ranch offers their fruit to students on Taste WA Day

Dayle Hayes, MS, RD shared storied from across the country and spoke about “New Nutrition Guidelines, Fresh Opportunities: Making the Farm-to-School Connection”.  She also led a workshop on “Marketing Your Program and Your Products: Branding, Connecting, and Making Social Media Work for You.”    Watch Dayle Hayes Keynote Presentation Video

Our Session on Key Best Practices Panel with Food Service Directors and Farmers included:          

• Wenatchee School District: Jan Holmer with Susan Gasbar of Gasbar Orchards
  
• Othello School District: Janette Root with Sandy Lehrman of Columbia Valley Family Farms
  
• Walla Walla School District: Pam Milleson w/ Justin Kralman of Walla Walla Produce Company

Tricia Kovacs of WSDA introduced the Schools Guide to Purchasing WA Grown Foods, which contains information about:

• regulations governing school food purchases
• USDA's Geographic Preference Option
• WA State school food purchasing laws & using the Geographic Preference
• a step-by-step chart on how to purchase Washington Grown foods
• how to develop vendor qualifications and sample contract language
  
• guidance and sample language for school wellness policies
  

Acacia Larson and Shoko Kumagai presented Using the Cafeteria as a Classrom with Panelists:

• LJ Klinkenberg
  
• Brian Levy & Laura Martin from Cheney School District
  
• Rene Sellgren from Spokane District 81
  

 Fresh Food in Schools project shared their success stories and this year's Champions were awarded:

From Central Washington

• McManus Family Fruit, Cashmere WA
  
• Cloudview EcoFarms, Royal City City & Ephrata 
  
• Allissa Eiser, Food Service Director of Ellensburg School District.

• Davidson Commodities, Spokane WA
  
• Rene Sellgren, Chef at The Community School, Spokane School District 81

From Western Washington

• Arlington  Public Schools - Ed Aylesworth (see Everett Herald March 15 article)
  
• Ralph's Greenhouse - Tim Terpstra
  

We had the "world-premier" of  The Lunch Room:Wenatchee's Farm to School Movement video which is so wonderful you have to check it out.

A speed-dating session between farmers and school districts helped connect new farms to schools districts and everyone enjoyed the garbanzo lasagne lunch that Casey Smith of Sodexo prepared.

Brian Estes facilitated a Farmers Roundtable discussion about Washington Grown foods in schools, and you can watch the video here.

School District Recipes were shared. School garden videos were available for previewing. Click here for a listing.

Farmer and vendors brought sample products, business cards and flyers for display on the resource tables.

Joan Qazi did a fabulous job of organizing the summit. For more information please contact her at jqazi@wsffn.org  or phone #509-664-6691. WSFFN was grateful to host this FREE conference at Big Bend Community College thanks to our sponsors:  WSDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and the Washington Women's Foundation.