School Garden Salad
If you want to be blown away by amazing ideas for sustainability projects, check out Keen Footwear's STAND contests. Individuals have submitted ideas to compete for cash prizes in three different categories. Two of my favorites were a proposal for a bike delivery service for the city of Cincinnati, and a mobile dishwasher trailer for use at community fairs and events in Missoula, Montana, that would provide and wash thrift-store dishes and silverware for use in place of plastic utensils and paper plates and bowls.
And yes, I also submitted an entry on behalf of Chico's GRUB program, which, by the way, is having an Interest/Volunteer/Intern meeting this coming Wednesday , February 13 at 7:00 p.m. at Woodstock's Pizza. All are welcome to attend and learn more about the many GRUB projects including upcoming work days, school education programs, restaurant compost pickup, fruit tree registry, and the GRUB CSA program.
There seems to be so many more great ideas than one has time for.
Here is a recent one, inspired by a colleague over in Chapman Town: The School Garden Salad.
In short, various local restaurants would be asked to designate a single menu item, such as a garden salad, where some or all of the proceeds of item would go towards funding a school garden at a local school. (The menu item wouldn't necessarily have to be a salad, though "School Garden Salad" sounds pretty catchy).
Different restaurants could be paired with specific schools.
Anybody interested in taking this on? Respond to this post, and I would be happy to chat.
Comments
You really think kids and parents can afford $6.50 of $7.50 for a salad? I just can’t wait for my tax dollars to help pay for school lunch programs now. Seriously, who can afford this? In Butte County median adjusted gross income for families is less than $50,000.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 12, 2008 08:19 AM
Purchase of a "school garden salad" at a restaurant would be voluntary for restaurant patrons, who may or may not be Butte County residents. Such a program would serve as a creative fundraiser that partners local businesses with local schools.
As far as school lunch programs are concerned, what do you think is the solution? What is the best way to get healthy food into kids' stomachs? Obesity and diabetes are among the greatest threats to the health of today's youth. My concern is that if we don't support healthy school lunch and nutrition education programs now, we will end up paying for it later when we as a society are forced to deal with a population suffering from complications relating to obesity and poor diet. Higher insurance premiums is just one likely result.
The argument that it is the parents' job to provide healthy food to their kids only goes so far. As you pointed out, low income parents are on a budget, and the cheapest food around is from Costco, Winco, FoodMax and Taco Bell--not the healthiest of options. So we need programs to educate the parents (and counteract millions of dollars worth of food industry advertisements) in conjunction with programs to make healthy food more affordable and more accessible to low-income families.
Other ideas?
Posted by: jeremy miller | February 12, 2008 12:22 PM