At Decatur Township schools, there is a definite buzz about food waste. That concern stretches from the staff to the teachers and the students. Instead of throwing away uneaten food kids placed on their trays, they donate unwanted items to Food Rescue district wide. “We started around Christmas time last year with one elementary school and quickly added all nine schools to the program” said Abby Butler, Assistant Director of Child Nutrition for the district. “At first we were concerned about the workload for the staff but everyone jumped on board and it just worked” Butler added.
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“I just feel better knowing it’s going to feed someone instead of getting wasted” said middle school cafeteria manager Cassie Hankins. As she opened the walk in refrigerator in the kitchen, Hankins talks about how Breakfast is the biggest area of waste. “Everyone gets free breakfast in the school and sometimes the kids take more than they can eat. What used to go in the trash now goes to Food Rescue” she said. Inside a box were bagged apples and french toast sticks, all collected from a recent morning’s serving. Twice a week a volunteer from the Morgan County Food Rescue, the caring agency partner paired up with the school, comes to collect the donations. The program has been an instant success and the food is now feeding people in need instead of landfills.
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Upstairs in Mrs. Hammond’s eighth grade science class, rescuing food has been top of mind for some time. When Food Rescue was implemented, the class was thrilled. “I hated to see perfectly good food go in the trash and ultimately the landfill and so did the kids” said Hammonds. These students understand they can make a difference” she added. While the group was relieved to see food avoiding the landfill where it would potentially harm the environment, they wanted to do more and soon they will be.
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Beginning early 2016, a group of eighth graders will be part of a Food Rescue SLEI team or Student Led Entrepreneur Initiative where they will be taking a more active role in the Food Rescue program at their school. The group will work with the cafeteria staff to keep track of how much food is being donated as well as create projects to promote Food Rescue and encourage other schools to participate. We will keep you posted on their progress!
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