Many of Food Connects’ sponsors are local businesses looking to support Farm to School that may not directly do so with their work. Food Connects has the unique privilege, however, of working closely with one daily—Fresh Picks Café.
Fresh Picks Bringing Fresh Food to Schools
Many of Food Connects’ sponsors are local businesses looking to support Farm to School that may not directly do so with their work. Food Connects has the unique privilege, however, of working closely with one daily—Fresh Picks Café.
Based out of Manchester, NH, Fresh Picks Café is a food service contracting company that works with public schools and school districts to provide meals for their students. These meals, often sourcing local foods and always following state and federal guidelines, are quite delicious! Our Farm to School team works with its team members at schools across Windham County, and their values align well with our work.
“The motivating philosophy at Fresh Picks Café is that wellness and good food go hand in hand—especially in education. Our comprehensive, coordinated, pro-active wellness programs promote this belief with an emphasis on fresh and whole wheat foods that are locally grown and produced.”
And so, a symbiotic relationship was established. Fresh Picks Café supports our Farm to School program and helps us grow and thrive. At the same time, our Farm to School team helps their school teams apply for kitchen equipment grants, provides professional development opportunities, and partners with them on multiple projects (like the Where in the World Are We Eating series).
This long-lasting partnership has helped feed children throughout Windham County for years and will continue to bring the most nutritious food possible to help kids in our neighborhoods thrive.
Trauma and Nutrition Work Continues at Food Connects
Since she began working at Food Connects in the summer of 2018, Farm to School Coach Sheila Humphreys has been developing expertise on the rich topic of trauma and nutrition, including Trauma-Informed Cafeterias and Trauma Sensitive Farm to School programs. Sheila is a leader on this topic, presenting at statewide, regional, and national conferences and acting as a resource for educators and School Nutrition Professionals far and wide.
Most recently, at the request of several Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) principals, Sheila partnered with Brattleboro Area Food Service Director Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe to record a 30-minute professional development session on the topic of Trauma-Informed Cafeterias to help support WSESU staff welcome new students from Afghanistan into the school district. The video is relevant to schools that recently welcomed new Afghan students and all schools interested in making trauma-informed changes to their school meal programs.
This professional development is free and available to all. To learn more:
Click here to watch the video
Click here to view the recommended practices for school communities
Click here to view the resource document for more information
This video and supporting materials are based on a full-day training that Sheila Humphreys developed with Vermont-based trauma-informed specialist Joelle Van Lent in the summer of 2019.
In addition, last month, Sheila led her first in-person Trauma and Nutrition Training for educators since the start of the pandemic. She presented to approximately 20 staff members at Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Center. “It felt great to connect with educators in person, get a sense of how the material was landing with people in real-time, and see their whole faces!” says Sheila. And the training was well received by the staff.
“I thought the training was great,” said Katrin Morgan, Child Care Referral and Food Program Specialist at Winston Prouty. “I think that the material was presented thoughtfully. And I appreciated that you shared at the beginning that there could be topics that could be triggering to some people and gave permission to step away or whatever to take care of themselves if needed. I think that this field we are in attracts compassionate and passionate people, and the fact that some people were tearing up and crying and continued to stay in the training showed that you created a safe space for such a hard topic to present.”
Want to know more about these powerful trainings offered by Food Connects? Click here to dig deeper.
Who Feeds Our Kids: Lindsey Mills
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Lindsey Mills
“I’m really happy that they (students) have a super safe place to be and go like Guilford. Life can be scary and unpredictable, but I think this is a really safe, supportive place for them to be.”
We are so pleased to introduce Lindsey Mills! Lindsey started as the Site Lead/Head Cook at Guilford Central School about three months ago and is already showing massive dedication to making sure that Guilford students really enjoy the food they are eating. She has 13 years of experience in food service, but this is her first job in a school kitchen. We were lucky enough to be able to chat with Lindsey at the end of her work week to get to know her a little better, and here are some highlights.
Sadie Hunter (SH): How long have you been working in school nutrition?
Lindsey Miller (LM) : I’m actually brand new this year! I worked in food service for 13 years before this. It’s been really rewarding—more so than my other jobs. I love hearing kids come over and say they loved something new that they maybe had not tried yet. It’s a bit of a tougher crowd (than the restaurants), though.
SH: What was your biggest challenge when responding to COVID-19?
LM: I guess I’m just really lucky because I’m by myself back here and I’m not really exposed to anyone else as much anymore in the kitchen. At my last job, being in a public setting was terrifying, but now I feel a lot safer working at a school. Everyone is super precautious, and I’m super grateful for that. I wish I had worked at the school before COVID so I could see how they served everything then - now everything is individually wrapped, etc. When I was in school you would go up to the lunch person and get it from the line, and it's a lot more complicated now.
SH: Do you have children at home? If so, how did you manage child care or balance remote school with your work?
LM: No kids, but a new nephew who is less than a year and is the light of my life! I moved up (to Vermont) to be closer to my sister and nephew. It’s crazy how much things change when your sister and brother-in-law have a kid—my life really shifted because of this little boy.
SH: What do you think is one of the most important aspects of having children back in the schools this year?
LM: I’m really happy that they (students) have a super safe place to be and go like Guilford. Life can be scary and unpredictable, but I think this is a really safe, supportive place for them to be. Even if kids aren’t coming from the best homes, they are safe here, cared about, and loved.
SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in this career?
LM: Have an open mind and be ready to be on top of food safety! Be adaptable and always make your food with love.
SH: What has your team done well that’s led to the success of the program?
LM: I’m by myself in the kitchen, and I often feel like I’m a one-person team here, but if I need help, my supervisor, Ali West, is as accommodating as possible. When the equipment isn’t working, we always find a way to get the food made. Everyone has been super helpful; no one has ever said no to helping when I ask—both people at Guilford and people at Fresh Picks Cafe. Everyone is willing to jump in and help if I need it.
Update: Deb Johnson, who's been with Fresh Picks for three years, has been stepping in three hours a day before going to her own school (Green Street) in order to help out in the Guilford kitchen.
SH: What is your favorite memory working in school nutrition?
LM: I’ve only worked here for three months, but it’s got to be all the positive feedback I get from the kids. There is a girl who is gluten-free, and one day she didn’t like her breakfast, so the next day, I worked extra hard to redeem myself. She loved it and came dancing into the kitchen to tell me!
SH: How can the community support you and other school nutrition professionals?
LM: I guess really just by reaching out if their kid has special dietary needs. It’s really about lots of communication from parents! It would be super helpful if I had more feedback from parents about what kids like and don’t like and making sure that I have all the information that I’m supposed to have. I honestly would not mind taking 30 seconds to ask the kids what they want to eat in order to have them better understand what they are eating and not want to send it back.
SH: What brings you joy? What are some things that you do outside of work that bring you joy?
LM: My nephew and my sister bring me joy. I really love animals too, and I love to cook even when I’m not at work. I love the beach—I didn’t make it last year, but when I do, it brings me a lot of happiness.
SH: What is one thing you are grateful for?
LM: I’m grateful for every day and every new opportunity that I am given.
First Garden Harvest at BAMS!
On a chilly morning in early December, Food Connects staff joined a group of approximately 15 students and Brattleboro Area Middle School (BAMS) teacher Mandy Nash for the final garden harvest and to put the school garden to rest for the winter. These new garden beds, built in the spring of 2021, finished the season strong! They were a source of fresh herbs for the school cafeteria throughout the summer and fall. This final harvest included Brussels sprouts, kale, and swiss chard. Food Service Director and chef Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe was eager to transform the produce into a harvest salad for BAMS students to enjoy in the school cafeteria at lunchtime.
Students rose to the challenge of using big loppers to chop through the thick stems of the brussels sprouts, and several students were very curious to see the tiny aphids who had infested several kale leaves. At the end of the harvest, the last step was covering the beds in local mulch hay donated by a BAMS family from Guilford.
Getting outside and doing hands-on garden work can be a rarity during the busy academic school day, and Food Connects was happy to provide the tools, resources, and support to help make this first harvest a success. BAMS is already thinking about spring planting in a few short months, and Ali West has requested more fresh herbs for her kitchen!
Where in the World are We Eating? A Celebration of Diversity by the WSESD School Lunch Program
School lunch never tasted as good to me as it did on Tuesday, September 28, when I sampled a delicious Thai meal in the BUHS cafeteria. Thanks to “Where in the World are We Eating,” a new program by Brattleboro Regional Food Service Director Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe, all Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) students had the opportunity to visit Thailand with their taste buds last month. Rather than the standard lunch fare of mac and cheese, pizza, and sandwiches, students could sample chicken satay, tofu Pad Thai, vegetarian Tom Kha soup (my favorite!), and mango sticky rice.
Ali was inspired to create this program to bring the entire school community together to celebrate the diversity of our school district through the shared experience of food. She collaborated with the district’s ESOL teachers to compile a list of the 22 countries students in WSESD are from. Twenty-two countries is a lot to fit into one school year, so she selected nine countries (one per month) to focus on this year, and she plans to continue the program and visit more countries in the future. Thailand is just the beginning! Here is the complete list of countries that students will get to explore with their taste buds this year:
September - Thailand
October - Jordan
November - Haiti
December - Germany
January - Kenya
February - Syria
March - The Philippines
April - Jamaica
May - Bolivia
Ali is encouraging the entire school community at all nine schools in the district to get involved, with invitations to music, art teachers, and librarians to feature music, art, and literature highlighting these countries with their students throughout the year. Invitations have also gone out to 6th-12th grade social studies teachers to take turns doing an in-depth study with their students on the featured country. As a culmination of this research, students will create slideshows to share with students of all ages throughout the district to teach about each country’s flora, fauna, clothing, and scenery. For Thailand, Sarah Kaltenbaugh’s 6th graders at Academy School created an engaging slideshow that highlighted beautiful statues, floating markets, and clouded leopards. This slideshow was shared with students from pre-K through high school seniors during the special meal. Early grades can decorate their school cafeterias with coloring pages incorporating images from each featured country.
“I want all of our students, no matter where they are from, to feel welcomed and celebrated in our schools,” says Ali West. As a chef and food service director, the best way that she has found to do this is through a celebration of diversity in the school meal program, which is accessible to all students again this year thanks to the USDA extension of universal meals. Ali even met the added challenge of including local produce in the meal by purchasing bean sprouts from the Chang Farm in Whately, MA, through the Food Connects Food Hub.
Cafeterias Unknown: Tasting Tibetan Cuisine at Academy School
Back when this blog was started, the intent was to highlight all the amazing work that’s taking place in cafeterias throughout southeastern Vermont. Today, students are exposed to a far more diverse range of dishes and cuisines than what was common 10 or 20 years ago. During a recent meeting with Ali West (Fresh Picks, Brattleboro Town Schools Food Service Director), I was again reminded how far school lunch has come.
In an effort to be more inclusive of the increasingly diverse student body at Academy School, Ali started the “Where In The World Are We Eating” project, highlighting cuisines from other cultures. A few weeks back, that meant I was treated to a delicious Tibetan lunch while Ali and I talked over local purchasing. The meal turned out to be so good that it was hard to concentrate on the meeting!
What exactly was on the menu? Dhang Tsel (cabbage salad), Jha Sha Curry (Tibetan chicken curry with rice), and Shogo Ngopa (spicy potatoes with spinach and flatbread). If there’s ever been a challenge to the traditional school lunch, this is it. Ali let me bring some Shogo Ngopa back to the office and my coworkers had the same reaction as I did—“is this really what they served at school?!” It was exotic, it was spicy, and it was delicious.
When asked about the students’ reaction, Ali said that “the entire school loved it, I only had one student who wouldn’t try it. Otherwise, it was a huge hit.” This reinforces one of the main philosophies we hold at Food Connects—if you serve quality food, students will trust you, try new things, and eat healthily. Next month the school is headed to China and Sheila and I already have our flight booked!
Food Connects and Fresh Picks Cafe to Present at National Conference
Sheila Humphreys, Food Connects’ Farm to School Coordinator, and Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe and the Brattleboro Town Schools’ Food Service Director, will present at the 10th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference. The conference will take place from April 21 to 23 in Albuquerque, NM.
The National Farm to Cafeteria Conference is a biennial event hosted by the National Farm to School Network. The conference convenes stakeholders throughout Farm to School to “source local food for institutional cafeterias and foster a culture of healthy food and agricultural literacy across America.”
Sheila presenting at a recent Trauma & Nutrition training for local schools, hosted by Food Connects.
Sheila and Ali will present on the work they’ve done to incorporate a trauma-sensitive lens into Farm to School programming. With an increased awareness of the importance of trauma-informative practices in schools, teachers and staff are discovering the strong role food plays in the conversation. “Food and trauma are intertwined,” says Sheila. “Food can establish a strong sense of community but can also be a point of stress and anxiety, especially in an overwhelming cafeteria environment, and for students experiencing food insecurity at home.”
Ali is an invaluable partner in this work and a Farm to School champion within the district and through statewide advocacy. She is instrumental in the implementation of new programs such as Share Coolers in the Brattleboro Town Schools, which allows students to share what they don’t eat, provides a quick and easy snack for others who may still be hungry, and reduces food waste. Through programs like these, and shifting the focus in the cafeteria to trauma-sensitive practices, Ali and Sheila work to reduce stigma around food, increase food access, and bring awareness to implicit biases.
Food Connects’ intensive work on developing a trauma-informed approach to education in the Brattleboro Town Schools wouldn’t be possible without their partners within the district and a two-year grant awarded by the Thompson Trust.
Windham County schools have a fruitful fall, freezing 350 lbs of local berries for the school year
October is Farm-to-School month and that means school kitchens are filled with… berries! Food service providers at Academy School and Brattleboro Union High School are hard at work freezing over 350 lbs of berries so their students can snack on local fruits all winter long." The town of Brattleboro and Fresh Picks Café strive to make delicious, local healthy food available to all our students. By purchasing local berries we are not only providing our students with nutritionally superior produce but also supporting our local community and farmers. Our students love our fruit and yogurt parfaits and introducing homemade muffins using frozen local berries has been a huge hit. Freezing berries is the easiest way to preserve the fresh taste and nutrition in local produce. For us, buying local is a win-win option and we at Fresh Picks Café are committed to buying local whenever we can!" explains Ali West, Food Service Director at Academy School. These schools, along with 27 others, are regular buyers of local food through the Food Connects Food Hub, an aggregation and distribution food hub serving Southern Vermont and New Hampshire. The Food Hub currently works with over 45 producers and 100 wholesale buyers, delivering local products to the region four days a week.
Berries are just one of the many local products regularly delivered to school cafeterias on the Food Connects refrigerated truck. Others items include apples, yogurt, pudding, lettuce, and potatoes. The food hub provides convenient access to local products, supporting schools as they work to increase their local food purchasing, a statewide goal put forward by Farm to Plate in Vermont’s food system plan. Food Connects, the nonprofit behind the Food Hub is a part of the Farm to Plate Network—a coalition of over 350 farms, food production businesses, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, capital providers, and government—working to make this goal a reality.
Food Connects encourages areas schools to purchase at least 10% of their annual food budget from local producers. They make it simple for schools and institutions to purchase source-identified local food through their Food Hub, and further guide efforts through their innovative programming. Their Farm to School Program provides schools educational support through the Harvest of the Month and Try-A-Bite curricula, while also offering equipment and professional development to food service providers so they are equipped to work with seasonal, local foods.
Thanks to the support from community members and schools across the county, area schools are succeeding in rapidly increasing their local food purchases. This September, school purchases through the Food Connects Food Hub more than doubled from September 2016. The impact of increased local purchasing can be seen in the fact that Food Connects Food Hub sales have just surpassed $1.5 million. This means more money remains in the local economy, returning to area producers.
Food Connects and its partners are committed to increasing local purchasing one berry at a time - supporting area producers and feeding Vermont’s children nutritious food in the process.