35 min
Creating The Future Health Of Our Country Through School Meals With Adam Russo and Mollie Van Lieu The Produce Moms Podcast
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- Health & Fitness
“A hungry kid can’t learn.”
Adam Russo (15:01-15:03)
There’s no one size fits all for school meal programs, let alone with a global pandemic.
If there’s anyone who’s passionate about the success of school children and feeding them healthy meals, it’s Adam Russo and Mollie Van Lieu. Adam is the Director of School Food and Nutrition Services at Prince William County Public Schools located in Virginia and Mollie Van Lieu, who was on The Produce Moms Podcast 100 episodes ago (wow!) is the Senior Director of Nutrition Policy at United Fresh Produce Association.
When schools shut down in March at the start of COVID-19, state and local districts had to make fast decisions about how they would deliver (or if they would deliver) class curriculum and school meals. You may not realize it, but there are about 30 million school lunches served every day and about 72 million servings of fruit and vegetables.
“School nutrition heroes really stepped up to that and worked their tails off in the spring and summer to make sure kids are still fed.” Mollie Van Lieu (6:43-6:55)
Not only is that important to keep feeding the children of America nutritious meals, ensuring their brains are fed for optimal learning, but it’s vital to the fresh produce supply chain, especially in rural and small areas. In Adam’s school district where there are over 100 schools and centers, they’ve focused on things like all you can eat salad bars, corn husking competitions, and getting fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers. One of the first things Adam’s district did to pivot with COVID-19 was figure out how to keep children fed, provide fresh fruits and vegetables, but comply with new CDC regulation standards.
They’ve started transitioning to a grocery style supplement box for families to pick up once a week, filled with fruits and vegetables that don’t have to be refrigerated since a lot of families don’t have access to heating and cooling methods for one week’s worth of food.
“We know that kids are going to learn better with proper nutrition, so giving them the micro and macronutrients they’re going to get in fruits and vegetables and the whole fruits and vegetables, especially. Having to consume that process through their body is going to keep them fueled much much longer.” Adam Russo (15:04-15:18)
Not only will they be fueled much longer, but their energy will be kept in the right place, they’ll be better behaved, more attentive in class and that’s extremely important whether they’re back at school in the public classroom or still learning virtually at home. The other benefit to providing a week’s worth of healthy food for kids and sending it home is they’re starting to take ownership of their health. This inturn is inspiring for other members of the family and helps everyone open their palettes up to fresh fruits and vegetables they might not have tried otherwise.
It’s important to note that this industry needs your help. Schools don’t get funding from the school board for school meals, even though other things like textbooks and transportation are provided for free. Without sales of school lunches, they don’t exist or the economy isn’t there to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, so if you’re wondering why your child’s school provides junk, they might not be receiving enough sales.
Profitability shouldn’t be the metric to go off of, it should be how well students are performing in class, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil of the food and nutrition services of a school. Also important is the feedback you give to these programs. If your school division is serving junk food or it’s just not up to your expectations, call the manager in charge and tell them!
“I know that our staff would do anything, they would run through a brick wall to make sure a kid was fed that day. That isn’t different across the country.” Adam Russ
“A hungry kid can’t learn.”
Adam Russo (15:01-15:03)
There’s no one size fits all for school meal programs, let alone with a global pandemic.
If there’s anyone who’s passionate about the success of school children and feeding them healthy meals, it’s Adam Russo and Mollie Van Lieu. Adam is the Director of School Food and Nutrition Services at Prince William County Public Schools located in Virginia and Mollie Van Lieu, who was on The Produce Moms Podcast 100 episodes ago (wow!) is the Senior Director of Nutrition Policy at United Fresh Produce Association.
When schools shut down in March at the start of COVID-19, state and local districts had to make fast decisions about how they would deliver (or if they would deliver) class curriculum and school meals. You may not realize it, but there are about 30 million school lunches served every day and about 72 million servings of fruit and vegetables.
“School nutrition heroes really stepped up to that and worked their tails off in the spring and summer to make sure kids are still fed.” Mollie Van Lieu (6:43-6:55)
Not only is that important to keep feeding the children of America nutritious meals, ensuring their brains are fed for optimal learning, but it’s vital to the fresh produce supply chain, especially in rural and small areas. In Adam’s school district where there are over 100 schools and centers, they’ve focused on things like all you can eat salad bars, corn husking competitions, and getting fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers. One of the first things Adam’s district did to pivot with COVID-19 was figure out how to keep children fed, provide fresh fruits and vegetables, but comply with new CDC regulation standards.
They’ve started transitioning to a grocery style supplement box for families to pick up once a week, filled with fruits and vegetables that don’t have to be refrigerated since a lot of families don’t have access to heating and cooling methods for one week’s worth of food.
“We know that kids are going to learn better with proper nutrition, so giving them the micro and macronutrients they’re going to get in fruits and vegetables and the whole fruits and vegetables, especially. Having to consume that process through their body is going to keep them fueled much much longer.” Adam Russo (15:04-15:18)
Not only will they be fueled much longer, but their energy will be kept in the right place, they’ll be better behaved, more attentive in class and that’s extremely important whether they’re back at school in the public classroom or still learning virtually at home. The other benefit to providing a week’s worth of healthy food for kids and sending it home is they’re starting to take ownership of their health. This inturn is inspiring for other members of the family and helps everyone open their palettes up to fresh fruits and vegetables they might not have tried otherwise.
It’s important to note that this industry needs your help. Schools don’t get funding from the school board for school meals, even though other things like textbooks and transportation are provided for free. Without sales of school lunches, they don’t exist or the economy isn’t there to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, so if you’re wondering why your child’s school provides junk, they might not be receiving enough sales.
Profitability shouldn’t be the metric to go off of, it should be how well students are performing in class, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil of the food and nutrition services of a school. Also important is the feedback you give to these programs. If your school division is serving junk food or it’s just not up to your expectations, call the manager in charge and tell them!
“I know that our staff would do anything, they would run through a brick wall to make sure a kid was fed that day. That isn’t different across the country.” Adam Russ
35 min