Evansville Vanderburgh Schools join Fight Against School Food Waste

​               

On October 23,  2015, Lacy Wilson, The Community Wellness Coordinator of Nutrition Education Programs for Purdue Extension- Vanderburgh Co. contacted Food Rescue via an inquiry to our website seen below. 

You've just received a new submission to your Getting Started Form.
Submitted Information:
Namelacy wilson
Email
[email protected]


Comment
Please send me the PDF on resources and how to get started. 

Food Service Director of Evansville Schools Linda Eidson had herd our presentation at the 2015 Indiana State Nutrition Association Conference, and inquired also for more information on October 27th, 4 days after Lacy requested our resources about building a K-12 Food Rescue program. 

Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation has 37 cafetierias, and is one of the largest school corporations in the state of Indiana.  The article below was written by Lacy, and published in the Evansville Courrier and Press on March 27th, 2016.  

Thanks, Lacy

                   Why Waste Food When It Can Be Rescued?

By Lacy Wilson, Special to the Courier & Press 

If you have ever eaten lunch in a school cafeteria, you have seen the amount of food that gets tossed in the trash. The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. cafeterias work hard to provide foods students enjoy and that are nutritious, but short lunch periods and varying appetites still can produce a substantial amount of food waste.

Statistics show that nationwide bags of food are being thrown away five days a week throughout the school year. An estimated 22 million unopened, unpeeled food items are tossed each year in Indiana school cafeterias. The numbers skyrocket to an estimated one billion nationwide, but Delaware Elementary school is doing something about the waste.

Working collaboratively toward a shared goal, EVSC food service director, EVSC assistant director of health services and Vanderburgh County's Purdue Extension community wellness coordinator brought the idea of a Food Rescue Program to Delaware School. EVSC is rescuing food that would have been thrown away through a program called K12 Food Rescue.

"Rescued food" must be prepackaged or individually wrapped to prevent contamination. What does rescuing food look like in Delaware Elementary? In the corner of the room there is what is known to the staff and students as the "Share Table." Any food that is unopened can be placed on the share table.

During each lunch rotation the cafeteria staff ask students "what can be rescued from our lunch today?" The students raise their hands and answer. Common rescued foods are yogurt, cheese, crackers, milk, juice, muffins. The students were taught rescuing foods helps the environment by eliminated rotting food sitting in landfills.

If a child who ate his or her meal is still hungry, they are welcome to get a second offering from the share table. All food on the share table is stored in the cafeteria coolers until a caring agency is able to pick up the donated foods. In Delaware's case, the Dream Center picks up the rescued food.
EVSC is looking to expand the food rescue into more schools in the coming months.

Lacy Wilson is a community wellness coordinator for Purdue Extension and a proud partner of the HCP — Healthy ByFive.org.

By Lacy Wilson, Special to the Courier & Press
If you have ever eaten lunch in a school cafeteria, you have seen the amount of food that gets tossed in the trash. The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. cafeterias work hard to provide foods students enjoy and that are nutritious, but short lunch periods and varying appetites still can produce a substantial amount of food waste.
Statistics show that nationwide bags of food are being thrown away five days a week throughout the school year. An estimated 22 million unopened, unpeeled food items are tossed each year in Indiana school cafeterias. The numbers skyrocket to an estimated one billion nationwide, but Delaware Elementary school is doing something about the waste.
Working collaboratively toward a shared goal, EVSC food service director, EVSC assistant director of health services and Vanderburgh County's Purdue Extension community wellness coordinator brought the idea of a Food Rescue Program to Delaware School. EVSC is rescuing food that would have been thrown away through a program called K12 Food Rescue.
"Rescued food" must be prepackaged or individually wrapped to prevent contamination. What does rescuing food look like in Delaware Elementary? In the corner of the room there is what is known to the staff and students as the "Share Table." Any food that is unopened can be placed on the share table. During each lunch rotation the cafeteria staff ask students "what can be rescued from our lunch today?" The students raise their hands and answer. Common rescued foods are yogurt, cheese, crackers, milk, juice, muffins. The students were taught rescuing foods helps the environment by eliminated rotting food sitting in landfills.
If a child who ate his or her meal is still hungry, they are welcome to get a second offering from the share table. All food on the share table is stored in the cafeteria coolers until a caring agency is able to pick up the donated foods. In Delaware's case, the Dream Center picks up the rescued food.
EVSC is looking to expand the food rescue into more schools in the coming months.
Lacy Wilson is a community wellness coordinator for Purdue Extension and a proud partner of the HCP — Healthy ByFive.org.