Douglas School System Honored For Farm To School Excellence

DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA — The Douglas County School System won Silver level recognition at the 2018 Golden Radish Awards held at the Georgia Freight Depot Oct. 22. The Golden Radish Award publicly recognizes Georgia school districts for best practices in farm to school programs, such as local food procurement, exposing students to new foods through taste tests, incorporating gardening, and cooking activities in the curriculum.

“The School Nutrition Program is completely honored to receive this award because it shows our commitment to community partnerships,” said Executive Director of School Nutrition Danielle Freeman. “Our goal is to expose more students to agriculture to feed themselves, their families, and to expose them to agriculture careers along with incorporating the health benefits in eating non-processed food. We are already on track to go for the Gold level award next year, and we will achieve this goal with the continued partnerships and creating new partnerships within the Douglas County Community.”

Douglas County School System received kudos for the following farm to school initiatives:
• Featuring two locally grown items monthly from Fitzgerald Farm, North Hampton Growers, and Hillside Garden. Promotions took place in the cafeteria, on the website, and in student handouts including information about where the produce was grown, complete with recipes!
• Allowing elementary students taste-tested locally grown peach smoothies. The smoothies earned a student satisfaction rating of 95% and added to the next menu cycle. Students at Lithia Springs Elementary were so excited that they wrote thank you notes to the cafeteria staff!
• Giving middle school students the opportunity to participate in 20 “Chopped Classes” where students competed in culinary skills events using locally grown items.

“Farm to school teaches our children the importance of food that helps bodies grow healthy and strong and food that promotes learning,” said J. Patrick O’Neal, M.D., commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “When children learn as early as possible where their food comes from, they are more likely to eat fresh, nutritious foods that will sustain healthy choices that spread to families and communities.”

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Douglas County School System was one of 84 Georgia School Districts recognized at the awards. “This award would not be possible without Asst. Director, Francetta Muhammad, managers like Cathy York, Paula Holloway, and Debbie Askew who are leaders in our farm to school projects,” Freeman says. “Mitzi Teal in 21st Century summer and ASP programs, our partners with the Farm Bureau, UGA Extension and Joey Rainwater have all helped us creatively work to make this possible.”

The 2017-18 school year was a record-breaking year of farm to school growth in Georgia. The 84 Golden Radish recognized school districts served more than 1.3 million students 109 million school meals using locally grown food items during the 2017-18 school year.

Photos courtesy Douglas County School System