Healthy Kids

DEF to fuel local ‘Farm to School’ effort

The Decatur Education Foundation is helping to seed Decatur’s new Farm to School Initiative with a $10,000 grant secured from Kaiser Permanente Georgia.

The initiative, launched last year, is a grassroots effort to connect Decatur schools with local farms to help improve student nutrition and engage students in the practice of farming.

The thinking behind Farm to School is that kids who avoid vegetables are more inclined to try them – and maybe even like them – if they’re the ones growing the vegetables. By learning about farming in a hands-on way, students benefit in multiple ways. They come to appreciate how food comes to their table, take pride in growing their own sustenance, and learn about the environmental impact of food traveling from places near and far.

And then there’s nutrition. Children who eat healthy are more inclined to continue those healthy habits later in life. That simple truth was a key motivation for City Schools of Decatur’s decision last year to implement the Farm to School Initiative in schools. In fact, evaluations of other Farm to School programs showed that students who participated went on to eat more local, nutritious foods.

The grant from Kaiser Permanente Georgia will help the Oakhurst Community Garden and Georgia Organics train more than two dozen Decatur teachers in developing curriculum plans that include lessons from Farm to School, as well as provide them with much-needed materials.

Funds will also enable low-income students and families – up to 100 people – to attend a series of workshops, where they will learn to grow vegetables, plan for garden space, and gain new knowledge about incorporating the vegetables they grown into their meals.

“The Farm to School initiative is a great example of how the Decatur Education Foundation, working in partnership with other Decatur organizations and individuals, can effect positive change in the lives of Decatur’s children,” says Gail Rothman, executive director of the Foundation. “We know that healthy kids learn better and have better outcomes, and we are proud to support this important project.”