USDA at Carver Elementary on Monday to Celebrate National School Lunch Week

The DMPS Food and Nutrition Center serves 20,000 students every school day.

On Monday, October 13, Darlene Barnes, Regional Administrator for the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, will visit Carver Elementary School in Des Moines to celebrate National School Lunch Week.

Barnes will be joined by Ann Feilmann, Chief of the Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services for the Iowa Department of Education, Sandy Huisman, Director of Food and Nutrition Management, Des Moines Public Schools, Principal Jill Burnett-Requist, and Carver Elementary staff and students.

Following the implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), students across the country are enjoying more fruits, vegetables and whole grains for lunch.

As part of the celebration, Carver students will be decorating fruits and vegetables, voting for their favorite ones, and tasting kale chips made from kale from the school garden.

Also a part of the HHFKA, the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) was implemented this year.  The CEP is an option that allows school districts and schools in which 40 percent of students qualify for free meals to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students at the school.  Carver is one of 38 schools in the Des Moines Public School District to participate in the program.

“Community Eligibility is feeding more students, and saving the district administrative costs,” Huisman said.  “It’s a win-win.”

Later in the day, Barnes, Feilmann and Huisman will visit Griffieon Family Farm in Ankeny and Iowa Choice Harvest in Marshalltown to learn more about Farm to School processes.

National School Lunch Week Celebration

Carver Elementary School

705 East University

Monday, October 13, 2014

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.