Rhode Island Farm to School is pleased to announce that it has found a home at Farm Fresh Rhode Island at the end of June when Kids First closes. With Farm Fresh's ever-expanding community of growers, network of local food advocates and complimentary local food programs, the transition will create the opportunity for great synergy and impact.
Future goals will be to expand the work into preschools, colleges/universities and institutional food service providers.
TO: The Thousands of RI Friends and Partners of Kids First:
Thank you for your work with me and with the dedicated staff members of Kids First during the past 15 years. Together (and I mean TOGETHER!), we have transformed the nutrition environments in all of our public schools, a feat most thought impossible (or unimportant) when we started our work in 1997. In fifteen years of service to Rhode Island children, Kids First spearheaded major nutrition changes in our greatest and most influential public institution for children, our schools.
Given Michelle Obama’s recent announcement of new USDA nutrition requirements for school meals, which mirror those that RI implemented nearly 3 years ago, we can all feel incredibly innovative for having figured our own way -- ahead of the USDA -- through developing, testing and cost-effectively implementing superior nutrition standards for Rhode Island’s school children.
Fifteen years ago, when I visited schools across RI, I saw vending machines filled with sugary beverages and junk food lining the halls and locker rooms of many middle and high schools. High schools sometimes had over 100 fundraisers centered around selling junk food in a single 180-day school year. Elementary students were offered tator tots, chicken nuggets and ice cream for lunch, birthday sweets in the afternoon and candy as a reward for good work - all in a single school day. There was very little in the way of fresh fruits and vegetables and none were grown in RI. All grains were highly processed and high in sugar and sodium. This was no one’s fault – it had simply become the norm for schools and in fact, unfortunately, this is still the norm for many schools across America.
read the entire letter
read the press release about Kids First completing it's mission
read about current Kids First project - Healthier US Schools Challenge
Kids First is committed to supporting nutrition education and healthy food delivery. We offer professional chef, education and communications services to school districts and cafeterias. Please refer to the
Kids First Menu of Services for details.
Kids First Celebrates the Completion of a
