The Food Service Committee for the Ashland School District includes district administration, kitchen managers and staff, nutritionists and dieticians, parents, farmers, representatives from Sodexho, representatives from Healthy Kids Now, and community food organizations. Based on the committee’s work, a pilot cafeteria program (FUEL: Foods You Eat for Life) is currently being offered at Walker Elementary School in Ashland.

Program goals of FUEL include the following:

• To offer only two wholesome, heart-healthy, and nutrient dense kid-friendly breakfast and lunch entrees daily.
• To provide foods that meet the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and American Heart Association guidelines for children.
• To provide entrees made from scratch rather than pre-packaged and pre-processed foods.

In addition to providing students with more healthful foods, the pilot program includes a teacher information packet related to the new menu, a farm-to-school component, and a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative evaluation.  

In order to ensure the program will be financially stable, the number of entrée offerings has been reduced from five choices to two choices each day to offset any additional costs of serving high nutritional quality foods made from scratch.

Healthy Kids Now hopes to expand the FUEL Cafeteria Program to the other elementary schools in southern Oregon that will be institutionalizing the Be A Fit Kid program.

To view the teacher information packet, select the links listed below.