Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), the tenth largest school district in the country, unveiled its new district-wide Fresh to Schools initiative to increase the menu selection of fresh produce for students. Newly appointed Director of the Division of Food, Nutrition & Wellness for the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Robin Safley, with State Senator Gary Siplin, OCPS Deputy Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins and Florida farmers Pero Family Farms and R.C. Hatton, attended the event to see first-hand the new initiative at OCPS Oak Ridge High School.
(back row) Dr. Leigh A. Bradshaw, principal of Oak Ridge High School; Dr. Barbara Jenkins, OCPS Deputy Superintendent; Florida State Senator Gary Siplin; Robin Safley, Director, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; Lora Gilbert, Sr. Director of Food and Nutrition Services for OCPS; Mrs. Victoria Siplin with Youth 4 Change students. (Photo: Business Wire)
"It is very encouraging when students really do want to eat their fruits and vegetables, as do the students of Oak Ridge High School. In Florida, we are fortunate to have an abundance of fresh produce from Florida farmers to meet the demand of school districts, such as Orange County Public Schools," said Robin Safley, director of the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness.
The initiative was inspired by OCPS Oak Ridge High School student school-based organization Youth 4 Change. The students met with the district's Food and Nutrition Services staff and school officials to address their desire to have more fresh produce menu selections.
The Fresh to Schools initiative is also an extension of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign's HealthierUS School Challenge. The challenge is to offer more healthy, fresh and great tasting school meals and encourage students to exercise. All these efforts focus on reducing the growing trend of childhood obesity.
The district currently offers more than 20 servings per week of fresh fruits and vegetables through school breakfast, lunch and snacks. This equates to more than 1.5 million pounds of fresh produce annually.
"Our school salad concept allows students to choose from a variety of fruits and vegetables, while going through the lunch line. It keeps everything clean and easier to grab than salad bars of the past, while still meeting the USDA requirement for US Schools and our student customer's requests," says Lora Gilbert, senior director of OCPS Food & Nutrition Services.
School districts nationwide look to provide the best selection of fresh, great tasting menu items for students, but the challenge is the rising cost of food. "It would greatly help school districts if the USDA would consider raising its reimbursement of monies per student to match our costs," according to Gilbert.
OCPS FNS serves more than 26 million meals and snacks each year. That is approximately 143,000 breakfast and lunch meals daily.
For more information, contact Lora Gilbert, senior director, OCPS Food & Nutrition Services at407.317.3963 orlora.gilbert@ocps.net.
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Contacts:
OCPS Food & Nutrition Services
Lora Gilbert,407-317-3963