Stories - Food Rescue

Food Rescue Connecticut Director of Student Leadership

3/24/2017

Introducing Nick Iannone: Food Rescue's Connecticut Student Director of Leadership

In October, 2015 , I was recommended for my school’s “Middle School Capstone Pilot Program”, based off of design thinking. I took the opportunity along with 13 other students. We immediately started to practice using design thinking with several activities. Our Class was later challenged with finding a problem within our school community, and working to solve it using the Dream, Design, Do process that we were taught. Immediately I knew what I was passionate about fixing… cafeteria food waste, specifically from the lunch line. Because federal law states that students purchasing school lunch must have fruit/vegetable, students end up taking food that are unwanted, and it goes to waist. By the end of the school year I had not had enough time to complete my project. I was asked by my superintendent, Dr. Salvatore Menzo, and my school principal, Joseph Piacentini, to continue the project into next year(2016-17). I accepted the offer, and immediately got to work. I set up a “Food Share Table” in the front of the cafeteria for students to place unwanted sealed food items for other students to take as they please. Cafeteria food waste has decreased and ideas to lessen food waste even more are increasing.

Nick Iannone
[email protected]

Our new system has been working for us up here in Alaska. From the first day it was a hit!!! I was expecting some resistance from teachers who don't care to have food in the classrooms and also problems with garbage on the playground but.....none so far. The high school "hungry boys" love finding the fixings for PB & jelly sandwiches from the K-5 crew. A huge problem, that I cannot fix at this time is the recess timing. It IS after lunch and a LOT of kids will come in and dump their trays just to get outside. Maybe next year. All in all... it was welcomed as a great idea and the school news crew is going to be doing a section on your program...hopefully before school closes for the summer but if not we will be off to a great start next year. We are out the 27th of this month. I'm currently working on getting a summer food program started because I know a lot of our kids do not get to eat well at home. This has only been my 2nd year running the kitchen and I've made MANY changes to our waste problem. I've been in contact with a member of the Sustainable Southeast group that is working on a partnership with the tribal authority to help run an aquaponics site. Also...UAS in Sitka is doing a study on using recycled cardboard to grow mushrooms!!!! He is getting me that contact info soon. I'm soooo excited because mushrooms are seriously my passion!!! I'm already setting up to grow shiitake and other gourmet (but really medicinal) mushrooms at home using alder that has already been dropped around the island. I'm also going to set up at the school to sell and actually make money with our lunch program. I'm looking forward to working with K-12 Food Rescue your fabulous project and help change the habits of our locals. Please feel free to contact me with any more info you may have or just to check on our progress.

Sincerely,

Tricia Clough

STATE DIRECTOR'S OF STUDENT LEADERSHIP