Cultivating Healthy Choices

Farm to Pantry Student Gleaning and Nutrition Education Programs

Schools are in their transformational stage in focusing on healthy food choices as well as providing a valuable service to their community. How do they bring those two key concepts together to make a powerful combination? Farm to Pantry Student Gleaning and Nutrition Education Programs nourish these young minds to do just that.

Relationships with local schools provides hands-on, outside the classroom experiences that allow educators to deepen their classroom curriculum. Educators love the canvas the home gardens and larger farms bring. Elementary students arrive with such anticipation. And yet they apply science and math concepts to their gleans, not to mention the value of teamwork and problem solving. High school students take gleaning and service to a much more complex level. The high school culinary department uses the gleaned produce to create other healthy foods to last beyond the growing season. From marmalades to canned tomatoes and beyond, these students also gain valuable life skills as they enter adult life.