Hear the story of young Tennessee K-12 Food Rescue food waste fighters and their teacher Karen McIntyre.
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Hear the story of young Tennessee K-12 Food Rescue food waste fighters and their teacher Karen McIntyre.
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 We did the NRDC food waste audit two years ago. The children recognized how much perfectly good food was being thrown away because it sat up on the stage at the front of the cafeteria. At that time we began collecting the food with the intent of having a share table and having the rest go to the homeless. It was an uphill battle at first because of the common conception that it was illegal and then the idea that if anyone got sick from the food that or principal would be sued. Once we got past that --- Home Depot donated a refrigerator where we keep the food until we load it into my car and I drive it to the local Rescue Mission in Downtown Nashville. Last year we diverted 4,000 lbs of food to he mission --- so we have been at this a while. The children take real pride in bringing the rescued food to the library each day at the end of their lunch period. Karen McIntyre, Librarian Westmeade Elementary Westmeade Elementary Student Links |
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November 2023
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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
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