SHIP stories
Eating a balanced diet is one of the most
important things we can do to maintain and
improve our health. Encouraging fruits and
vegetables in schools helps kids grow up strong
and healthy, with good habits that last a lifetime.
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In the first three years of SHIP, 440 schools
worked on Farm to School programs, giving
access to locally grown fresh fruits and
vegetables to 235,000 students.
Their Carrots!
Connecting local growers to students in schools to
provide fresh, healthy food was a dream for Marleen
Webb, Director of the Bemidji Schools Food Service.
With funding from the Statewide Health Improvement
Initiative (SHIP), that dream was turned into
reality, and 2012 marked the district’s fourth year
participating in the Farm to School program.
Many school districts are faced with tight budgets,
and in order to make the Farm to School program
happen, Webb was forced to look outside regular
funding sources. SHIP funding allowed the district a
means to build a vegetable garden outside of Solway
Elementary School and several raised garden beds out
of Lincoln Elementary School. In order to give students
access to fresh, locally grown foods on a more regular
basis, Webb partnered with Cheryl Krystosek, a local
grower, to connect Webb with other local growers
willing to sell their naturally grown produce to the
school district.
“The growers have been tremendous to work with,”
Webb said. “Our relationships with them are growing.
We’re really enthused about it. It’s a definite change
The Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) works to
improve health through better nutrition, increased physical
activity and decreased commercial tobacco use and
exposure. Find out more at www.health.state.mn.us/ship
for our kitchens to go back to made-fromscratch cooking rather than dealing with
convenience foods,” explains Webb.
School gardens are a wonderful starting
point and can turn into something beyond bringing
local, fresh vegetables to students. Josh Larson, SHIP
Community Transformation Coordinator, feels that
school gardens can be a center point for healthy
eating. “We have had schools get salad bars, and
healthy snack charts, and plant orchards all because
we started with school gardens…it was the catalyst
for change at a lot of schools and we have a healthier
overall food environment because of it.”
Students are enthused to be a part of their food
system allowing them to eat more vegetables and
waste less, which is seen by food service staff. As
Marleen likes to tell, “It can be the dead of winter and
students will be telling their friends that those are the
carrots they grew in the garden!”
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5/2013