SHES receives fresh produce grant

OSBURN — Silver Hills Elementary School was recently awarded a near-$20,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will pay for the school to receive fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the 2021/22 school year.

The $19,875 grant is part of the Idaho’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which works to provide fresh produce to students throughout the school day by working in conjunction with the USDA for the purposes of the state-administered grant.

While students have the option of either receiving lunch through the school, or packing their own lunch from home, the foods purchased through this grant will go to all students in the building at some point during the day other than their scheduled lunch time.

Wallace School District Superintendent Todd Howard is pleased with the school’s receiving of the grant, and he really likes the rules on how the food is administered.

“I like that the Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Program isn’t designed to supplant what we’re already, but to be in addition to what we’re already doing,” Howard said. “Basically what we’re going to be doing is giving kids an extra serving of fruits and vegetables somewhere in the day. It could be before or after lunch as a snack.”

Idaho’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra also mentioned that the fruits and veggies aren’t going to be the regular run of the mill types that students usually see, in fact it might be the opposite.

“Children love the wide variety of tasty fruits and veggies, including items seldom seen in Idaho grocery stores,” Ybarra said. “It is an effective, fun way to increase healthy snack options for schoolchildren throughout our state.”

For Howard, it’s all about the opportunities, and this opportunity is one that he is very thankful for.

“Anytime that you introduce a healthy snack alternative, you’re going to be better off,” Howard said. “We aren’t usually able to offer a lot with the way the USDA has us set up, but this is an opportunity, that is cost effective for us, to offer a number of our kids things that oftentimes aren’t accessible to them.”

The grant period runs from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, and all grants are contingent on the availability of USDA funds.

Schools are reimbursed for providing the fresh fruits and vegetables to all students within the school day.