File Photo (Anna Brigance) | The Daily Mississippian
Oxford High School
Sunny Young, director of Good Food for Oxford Schools, is trying to raise $60,000 to keep the program going for the 2013-14 school year.
Good Food for Oxford Schools, a program that seeks to inform students in the Oxford School District on nutrition while also bringing locally farmed fruits and vegetables to cafeteria trays, is the first of its kind in Mississippi.
The initiative began in January through the USDA Farm to School grant. The grant essentially happens in two stages: planning and implementation. So far, the program has survived on money given through the planning stage of the grant, but that money will run out by the end of November.
Because government funding cycles were off this year, there’s a delay on when Young will be able to apply for the implementation grant, which would take effect next school year.
This means Young will have to raise the money needed in order to keep the program alive for the remaining school year.
“We need $60,000 by December 1 to keep it going,” Young said.
The school district has agreed to donate, but because there are other projects in the works, Young was told by Oxford School District Superintendent Brian Harvey that the amount will not exceed $10,000.
“We’ve been able to accomplish so much in so little time with very little marketing,” Young said. “I don’t want to see our progress end simply because we weren’t able to raise the money in time.”
Since January, Good Food for Oxford Schools has established relationships with eight local farmers to bring fresh produce to the school district. It has added two greenhouses to Oxford Middle School and established a food club at Oxford High School, where two club leaders were selected to attend a food summit in Los Angeles over the summer, through funds raised by the program.
Through a partnership with Eating Good … and Moving Like We Should, a grant project by The University of Mississippi Nutrition and Hospitality Management department, Good Food for Oxford Schools has been able to create a garden at Oxford Elementary.
Young has plans to create two more gardens at Bramlett Elementary and Della Davidson by this fall.
“The menus have changed also,” Young said. “Completely. There’s healthy options now. And no chicken nuggets.”
Elly Purdon, a fourth-grader at Della Davidson Elementary, said she likes the menu changes made by Young and her team.
“My favorite is the strawberry yogurt!” Purdon said. “GFOS is pretty cool.”
In addition to a healthier menu, Young created the Harvest of the Month project, through which students in the district see a different local fruit or vegetable on their cafeteria trays each month.
September’s featured fruit is watermelon, which means 70 watermelons are given from a local farm for all students in the district.
“It takes a lot of local produce to feed all the students in the district,” Young said. “We’re working to get more farms involved so we can make local foods part of the everyday menu, as opposed to just a special treat.”
But November is fast approaching, and Young is hoping that Oxford residents will rise to the challenge to help Good Food for Oxford Schools raise the money it needs to continue.
Oxford chef John Currence is one fan of the program who has agreed to do what he can to help keep the program around next year.
“The reason I got involved is because, sort of across the board, our food is killing us,” Currence said. “And if we don’t change the way we eat, particularly the way that we’re feeding our children, this epidemic of obesity will topple the health care system.”
Currence, who recently bought Lamar Lounge, has decided to turn the restaurant into a nonprofit, with proceeds going toward a different local children’s charity each year. Good Food for Oxford Schools will be the first to receive funds from the restaurant.
“We have an opportunity to make a change,” Currence said. “And unfortunately we’re not going to see a revelation on the state level where all of a sudden they start yanking soda machines out of schools, so we have to take our victories where we can get them.”
According to Currence, the real challenge in Mississippi is getting people involved and changing the way they think.
“I think the important thing is that we target educating kids,” Currence said. “If we can get a system like GFOS in place and document results here, it’s easier making advances in other cities. And ultimately the whole state.”
The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at Ole Miss has pledged to donate $1,000 to Good Food for Oxford Schools and has challenged other departments on campus to do the same.
Susan Glisson, executive director of the institute, cited a recent study by the USDA that named Mississippi as one of the worst 11 states in the country regarding food security.
“That means our most precious resources, our children, and far too many adults are not getting the nutritional food they need to lead healthy lives,” Glisson said.
This is not the first time Mississippi has been spotlighted for poor nutrition. It remains on the list of the most obese states in the nation, and CDC statistics show that many of these are children.
“The amazing work being done by Sunny Young and the Oxford school system is exactly the kind of local approach that can end those dire statistics,” Glisson said. “We all need to do our part to support this great work.”
