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Third grade students taste zucchini fritters. | Nutrition Committee volunteers poll the kindergarten about whether they would try zucchini again. |
The Calais Nutrition Committee always has exciting projects in the works!
We are always looking for the best sources from which to purchase food for the cafeteria. We are exploring ways we can provide local ingredients whenever possible.
A buying club for community members is in the works, too. Now you can purchase the same food from local farmers as we can get in the lunchroom! If you are interested in participating, please contact
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.
We will resume meeting again in the fall, please stay tuned for meeting times if you would like to join us!
If you are interested in what we are doing or if you have ideas you would like us to consider, please join us!
Take a look at some of our recent accomplishments:
Local produce in the cafeteria! Our school is part of a local food distribution network organized by the Two Rivers Center in Montpelier. Each week throughout the year, we receive a variety fresh produce from local farms which are transformed into delicious breakfasts and lunches by Nancy in our cafeteria.
Monthly nutrition lessons in every classroom! These lessons are focused on a specific food that is available to our lunchroom through our local food distribution network. They are brought to the classes by Nutrition Committee volunteers. The lessons are coordinated with the lunch and breakfast menus so that the foods children sample in class will be served shortly thereafter in the cafeteria.
User friendly menus! Wondering which meals include those local veggies? How about which foods contain healthy whole grains? Just take a look at the key on the bottom of the school lunch menu – you'll also see which items are homemade and when the food featured in the nutrition lesson is being served.
Additional lunchroom staff! In order to make the best use of our local produce and support our cook in her efforts to make foods from scratch, the Nutrition Committee identified the need for a part time cook's aid position, which was approved by the School Board and advertised in the spring of 2007.
School wide composting! Calais now composts all food waste generated by the cafeteria, as well as many classrooms throughout the school. Student helpers tote the buckets out to the compost bin each day, which is picked up weekly by the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District and brought to a composting facility in Hardwick.
A new window and new colors in the cafeteria! We are not only interested in the quality of foods we give our children, but also the quality of their eating environment. For this reason, the Nutrition Committee identified the desirability of windows in the lunchroom, which the School Board approved. A new window was installed in the 2006-2007 school year. Nutrition Committee members were also involved in choosing the bright new colors that were painted in the cafeteria/ gym in the summer of 2007.
