Helena school lunches keep getting a little more local.
Helena Public Schools is one of six central Montana districts in Project SCALES (Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems), a three-year federal grant program led by the Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger, the Helena Independent Record reports. Funded by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, it gives each district about $12,000 a year for a project that brings Montana-grown food into school meals.
Helena is now in the second year of the grant. Last year the district spent its share on a combi oven. This year the focus is local beef: through a partnership with a co-op, the district negotiated an affordable price on Montana ground beef. For the third year, Food Service Director Robert Worthy plans to buy a small grain mill to grind Montana-grown lentils.
Separately, the district will build a new, modern kitchen with money from the bonds voters passed last year.
Source: Helena Independent Record (Mikayla Melo, Oct. 8). Read the original article.
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Photo: "20220525-FPAC-PJK-1999 TONED" by USDAgov, via Wikimedia Commons, in the public domain. Cropped and resized from the original.