WILTON – For the third year in a row, the Mt Blue Regional School District has received the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) Grant for Cushing and Academy Hill schools.
The goal of the grant, which totals $18,600, is to create a healthier school environment by providing healthier food choices, expand the variety of fruits and vegetables children experience and make a difference in childrenʼs diets to impact their present and future health, said Alyce Cavanaugh, the school district’s health coordinator.
“The FFVP introduces school children to a variety of produce that they otherwise might not have had the opportunity to sample, such as star fruit, “Ugli,” passion fruits and kumquats to name a few,” Cavanaugh said and she added the program is an important catalyst for change in efforts to combat childhood obesity by helping children learn more healthful eating habits.
Funding for the fresh produce is especially important at the Wilton schools, where more than 75 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced meals based on their familiesʼ income, she noted.
Twice a week, during the school year the students receive and sample fresh fruit and vegetables in their classrooms. Last year, the children sampled over 65 different varieties.
The elementary students receive nutritional information, history and fun facts about each fruit or vegetable they are introduced to to promote education of fresh fruits and vegetables through classroom lessons and activities.
“This program is an effective and creative way of introducing fresh fruits and veggies as healthy snack options, instead of cookies and other sugary foods,” Cavanaugh said. Weʼre trying to teach and promote healthy habits and will continue to encourage parents to send healthy snacks to school.”
This sounds like a fabulous and fun program!! Does the money provide for the school to actually plant and grow these trees and plants or just to provide the fresh fruits and veggies? I have found that the more personally the children are involved in growing and preparing foods, the more likely they are to eat them and enjoy them.
Please tell me why this is only for the Wilton Schools? Shouldn’t this benefit all of the schools in the district.
Wonderful program! Thanks Alyce and staff for making this happen.
Congratulations Alyce! You do such a great job. Miss seeing you everyday.
Funny that MBRSD Parent should ask why Wilton Schools only. I believe in the article it states “Funding for the fresh produce is especially important at the Wilton schools, where more than 75 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced meals based on their familiesʼ income”
However, I would like to point out that several times more often than not we Wilton parents read over and over again how the Farmington schools get things we dont. A great example is 1/2 day Wednesday children in Farmignton get to go to the community center for after school while parents work.
Do you know that in the Wilton School some grades only have 2 classrooms with 23-24 students each and 1 combo class for the grade also? There is no way to even have advanced classes for children who are advanced because of how big the classes are so some children are bored, not doing their work because they did it last year and not learning to their potential.
We dont get the extra teacher as Farmington schools have done in the past when students increase in certain grades.
Way to go Wilton Schools.
MBRSDParent. Why doesn’t Wilton have a brand new school and nicer playground?
Not everything in the district is perfectly even. This grant is for Wilton where nutrition is sorely lacking. Perhaps you could volunteee to write a grant for Farmington.
Thanks to those involved. We appreciate the effort.
Since the children are receiving such nutritious food at school maybe we can cut the parents food stamps (Iam sorry EBT) back a bit.
I agree with Conservative Steve – and this program should help the parents who are getting EBT to learn about buying nutritious foods with their EBT, not Pepsi, Ding-Dongs, and chips!
This is a great program, and yes, let’s get it to all the schools not only in MBRSD but everywhere. Are the fruits and veggies local? Can you imagine what kind of positive impact on our local economies and communities it would be if most of the veggies and fruits served in our schools were local? Let’s head in that direction, too. And let me know how I can help!
Actually, the wilton school did get a new first grade teacher because of the increase in students. This is done a lot, teachers are always shuffled to different grades to meet the increase in students. There are no combo classes this year in K-2
Perhaps there should be restrictions banning junk food purchases with EBT cards. Why keep feeding junk food? Unhealthy habits breed unhealthy children, ultimately needing more extensive frree health care! Duh . .
Admin for Alyce Cavanaugh:
Thank you for your responses and hopefully, I can answer some of your questions.
The purpose of the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program is to increase fresh fruit and vegetable consumption in elementary schools. The level of funds provided to any one school depends on the demographics of schools that are selected to participate in the program.
Maine was awarded $1,923,350 that was to be disbursed to schools across the State. The amount a school would receive was based on School enrollment at the time of the application. This year the grant was awarded to 167 schools in Maine at an average of $50 per student.
Schools selected for this grant were those in which 50% or more of students are eligible for free or reduced price meals. All of our elementary schools within Mt Blue Regional School district qualified for the grant, therefore, we submitted a grant for ALL our elementary schools within the district.
Highest priority was given to schools with the highest percentage of low income students; therefore, we only received the grant for Academy Hill and Cushing schools which were over 75% free and reduced lunches.
As long as the USDA offers this grant, we will continue to submit applications for all our schools so we can offer this program to all the students in our district.
This grant has very strict guidelines that we must follow. It is not a “snack program,” but an educational program to help students learn about their nutritional value and for them to understand how eating fresh fruits and vegetables can contribute to good health and academic achievement. Therefore, it is important that parents help support our efforts in promoting good health by sending healthy snacks to school and reinforce what we are teaching them in school. The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program is another way to help your students develop lifelong healthful eating habits!
We do try to purchase as much as we can locally, just as we do in our school lunches, however, it is often difficult due to our growing season. We will continue to strive to achieve that goal as much as possible.
Thank you