November 23, 2009
The Honorable Max Baucus
122 West Towne
Glendive, MT
Dear Senator Baucus,
Last week, the Glendive public schools participated in a “Harvest Lunch Week” in which a local food item was offered each day in the school lunch. The Week was organized by the Local Food and Wellness Committee and Farm-to-Table in Glendive. This is part of a larger effort to get more local, healthy, better quality food into our schools. I am writing to you today to share some responses from the students, teachers and cafeteria workers after eating and serving local food for a week in their schools.
“Harvest Lunch Week” was a huge success by many measures. The “lunch ladies” enjoyed cooking fresher, healthier food and the students noticed a difference and thanked us for it. On Thursday the middle school almost ran out of hot lunch because of unexpected participation rates! The “Harvest Lunch Week” catalyzed community awareness about local food in the schools and increased an awareness of and interest in farm-to-school education generally. It is worth noting that the school spent approximately $700 on local food, which went directly to farmers and producers here in Glendive.
The challenge is this: after labor, administrative, and maintenance costs, the schools spend approximately .25 cents on actual food per child per day. By purchasing one local item a day, the Dawson County school district spent more money on food in a week than it does in a month. Current allocation of funds per child per meal is insufficient to create healthy or delicious meals. We all know that a quarter gets you a big gumball from a machine, and that’s about it.
Senator Baucus, we implore you to read the enclosed letters from future and current voters, from students and parents and mothers and to hear their plea that you advocate to allocate funding in the Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization to:
- increase the reimbursement rate by a $1/child/day, and
- purchase local food at the school level to help us feed our children healthy, fresh and delicious school lunches, and
- strengthen our local economy by investing in local producers and local consumers
Thank you for your attention to this crucial issue.
Sincerely,
Caroline Silver
Farm-to-Table Americorps VISTA
