2016/2017 School Year Beech Grove High School ![]() Triple Pundit Article About K-12 Food Rescue, Beech Grove, and Chartwells K12 partnership. How ‘Rescuing’ Food Teaches Students About Leadership By Tarrah McCreary www.triplepundit.com/2017/02/rescuing-food-students-leadership/ Food belongs in stomachs, not in landfills. But unfortunately, an estimated 1 billion food items are discarded by K-12 students across the country each year, according to K12 Food Rescue. As a socially responsible partner to school districts, Chartwells K12 wanted to do our part to ensure the healthy, great-tasting meals we serve are nourishing our students and community. So, last spring, we implemented a food rescue program at one of our schools in Indiana. After only five months, the food rescue program saw incredible success amongst middle- and high-school students – we rescued more than 11,200 food items! How exactly are we ‘rescuing’ food? Kids in lunchrooms across America are tossing out perfectly good food – apples, juice boxes, unopened string cheeses, etc. Whether the child was full or just didn’t have time to eat it (they’re kids – who knows!), we wanted to put a stop to this in our café. Chartwells K12 partnered with K12 Food Rescue to provide students with an alternative to discarding uneaten food. K12 Food Rescue provides us with bins that are set up in the school’s cafés where students can place certain uneaten or unopened items. Then, instead of being discarded, the food is brought to local charities. What is truly unique about this program is it’s a student-led initiative. The students are responsible for managing the program; they oversee the collection process; and they encourage their peers to donate. Because it empowers students to make a real impact, we’ve found they’re more excited, eager and inclined to help. Not only are we reducing waste, but our students are also learning valuable lessons about sustainability and leadership that they’ll carry with them both inside and outside of the café walls. The benefit of this is two-fold: First, we’re giving back to the local community. Second, we’re following our mission of sustainability by helping reduce waste and pollution. The more than 11,200 food items rescued thus far translates to about 2,250 meals and reduces carbon equivalent emissions by 1,400 pounds. That’s a huge impact for a district of 3,000 students! While the execution of this program is simple, the implications for the students are far-reaching. Here are three reasons to give something similar a try at your own school district. 1. Instill knowledge: Many children, especially elementary-level students, don’t realize the impact they personally have on the environment. Start by making them aware of their personal choices and what they can do to contribute to a greener community. This is also a good opportunity to teach children about giving back. ‘Rescuing’ food items provides a tangible example to help kids connect the dots on how they can help others within their community. 2. Develop leadership skills: The food rescue program is also an opportunity to empower individual students with leadership roles. While the exact responsibilities of food rescue student leader or leaders can vary, their role is the same at its core. Student leaders help collect and track all rescued food items and encourage their fellow students to further participate in the program. The program also inspired positive peer pressure: Many students remind their friends not to throw out their food and instead place it in the donation bins. Since the program started, the number of students participating has steadily increased. The student leadership aspect of this program is key and a big reason why it’s so successful. It helps the students feel empowered and gives them ownership of what to do with their uneaten food and where it actually goes. Without it, many might see it as another school-mandated initiative and not feel as much pride in their good work. 3. Showcase results. Finally, it’s important for students to see the results of their hard work in order to stay engaged. Provide regular updates on the progress of the food rescue program, share when milestones have been met, and keep students informed on the most current stats for their school and district. K12 Food Rescue sets up partner schools with an online dashboard that gives kids a quick glance at their monthly food rescue stats. The kids are always excited to see the monthly metrics and work hard to top the previous months’ results. The bottom line: The food rescue program we implemented has been incredibly successful, and we feel it can be easily replicated by students across the country. We’re excited to take our program even further in 2017 by expanding our student leadership opportunities, turning the program into a formal club, and bringing it to more Chartwells K12 schools around the country. ICourtesy of the author Tarrah McCreary is a resident dietitian at Chartwells K12, a provider of dining services for school districts across the country. Chartwells K12 is built on decades of food and education experience and driven by top culinary, nutrition, wellness, and sustainability talent. 2017/2018 School Year 2017/2018 K-12 Food Rescue Student Leaders 2018/2019 School Year Beach Grove High School 2018/2019 K-12 Food Rescue Student Leaders Kaitlyn Aldrich Serenity Moore-Clay McKayla Mayhew Chad Shumard-Supple 3 years donated food items: 2016/2017 school year through 2018/2019 school year ![]() Check out one of the best student K-12 Food Rescue videos ever submitted! Then read the blog post on how Emerson Elementary was able to start a K-12 Food Rescue Program in Salt Lake City Utah. Why Do We Rescue Food at Emerson Elementary School?
By Monica Carlson May 22, 2017 Over dinner several months ago, my 10-year-old daughter shared something that caught her attention during lunch in her school cafeteria. “Mom,” she said, “we throw so much food away during lunch at school! It’s ridiculous.” As I asked her more about what she observed, we briefly discussed what a shame it was that perfectly good food would go to waste - not only at her school, but across the country and even in our own home. Fast forward to a month later in early 2017, when I began researching food waste initiatives across the country and came across John Williamson’s organization, Food Rescue. As I began to learn more about food recovery efforts across the country, I realized the enormous impact schools can have on diverting unused, healthy food out of landfills and into their own communities. Our elementary school had already implemented a share table during lunch, which enabled students to place unused and uneaten food in a common area where others could grab as they pleased. Our goal was to take this a step further and divert those items left over at the end of each day. I reached out to our School Community Council and our school’s principal, and within two months we had received the support and resources we needed to get our school’s Food Rescue program off and running. John’s guidance, and the wealth of resources he provides both on his site and via email, were instrumental in assisting me with how to move the program from its initial planning stages to full implementation. With the help of a small parent committee, as well as dozens of parents willing to volunteer during lunch time for our initial food waste audit and the first two weeks of implementation, our program has taken off and is becoming a part of the school’s culture. I anticipate that in the coming school year, our “Operation Food Rescue” program will become more integrated and provide students with great leadership and community service opportunities. In Salt Lake City, we face a homelessness crisis that cannot be ignored. By partnering with a local nonprofit we have begun donating healthy food items like cheese sticks, individually packaged sandwiches, fruits, apple juice, and of course, milk, to people who are most in need. The feedback we’ve received from this nonprofit has been very positive and we look forward to continuing to provide these nutritious snacks. In the past month alone, we have donated over 1170 items, translating into 234 meals served and 146 pounds of CO2e reduced. Of course, we couldn’t have done this without the support of our school’s principal, support from parents and teachers, and our very own students engaging in this daily act of kindness.We’re grateful to have found Food Rescue program models across the country to inspire us and help us along, as well as John’s vision to strengthen our communities and environment through service stewardship. Viva Food Rescue! School Year 2016/2017 Why we rescue food at Promise Road Elementary? We do it, because we know there are people out there that are homeless and hungry. This organization called Food Rescue taught us to gather food that we don't eat and take it to a food pantry. Also, besides the fact that people eat the food we don't eat that is clean or unopened, it makes us feel good knowing that we are doing something to help people in my community. We are helping people that don't have food now can be fed with this food. It also helps the planet because the food that people donate would have gone in the trash which then goes to a waste plant that adds on to another problem world pollution. Food Rescue Certificates of Leadership Were Awarded to the Following Promise Road Elementary Students: Nick Behlmer Will Behlmer Quinn Matthews Haley Schatko Abdallah Mash Jay Saini Emma Clouse School Year 2017/2018 Food Rescue Certificates of Leadership Were Awarded to the Following Promise Road Elementary Students: Exley Tricker Evelyn-Rose Burch Lydia Ngoma Jalyn Cooke-Nettles Josh Behlmer School Year 2018/2019 Food Rescue Certificates of Leadership Were Awarded to the Following Promise Road Elementary Students: Olivia Carty Haley Schatko Talah Sadaqah Emily Chen Alex Madison Finn Smith AJ Smith ![]() TOTAL FOOD ITEMS DONATED IN 3 YEARS
2016/2017 School Year K-12 Food Rescue Student Leader Erik Allen I am a student at Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate Junior High. I heard about the Food Rescue program from the Williamson family because they are close friends with my family. I needed service hours for Boy Scouts. However, I continued with Food Rescue long after my hours were completed. It is a simple thought.....stop turning good food into trash. Instead "rescue" it and give it to someone in need. I went in each Monday morning before school and I would count the food and put it into a data base that I shared with the cafeteria manager and our principal. I also recommended to more scouts to take my place since I will be in the high school next year. I will continue to help with Food Rescue in the high school. Erik Allen Erik Allen received the Food Rescue Certificate Student Leadership award for the 2016/2017 school year for his work toward creating a sustainable Food Rescue program at HSE Intermediate JH connected with the Grace Care Center. ![]() 2017/2018 School Year HSE Intermediate JH Erik recruited Trevor Lacey to continue the program at HSE Intermediate JH 2017/2018 Hamilton Southeastern High School Erik moved onto high school, and recruited Ashton Boyer to help him run the K-12 Food Rescue program in the HS. 2018/2019 School Year Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate Junior High HSE Intermediate JH Student Leader Leander Quirolea ![]() 2018/2019 Hamilton Southeastern High School K-12 Food Rescue Student Leaders Erik Allen and Ashton Boyer ![]() TOTAL FOOD ITEMS DONATED IN 3 YEARS BECAUSE OF ERIK ALLEN ![]() |
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