Overview & Focus
The School Wellness Initiative collaborates with West Marin’s four school districts to advance healthy, fresh, local school meals through policy, systems, and environmental changes while strengthening regional food resiliency.
What We Do
Connecting local farmers with school districts to establish long-term purchasing agreements, align crop planning with menu cycles, and develop vendor buying guides.
Partner with Conscious Kitchen and the Alice Waters Institute to expand scratch-cooked local menus and develop regional buyer guides aligning local crop availability with school menu planning.
Supporting outdoor learning, nutrition education, taste tests, seed saving, and garden produce integration into school meal programs and local food pantries.
Assisting school districts with updating wellness policies to incorporate SB 1383 organic waste reduction, local foodware ordinances, and farm-to-school purchasing targets.
Provide technical assistance for kitchen staff and school administrators on Farm to School scratch cooking, upgrading equipment, securing state and local funding, and establishing interdistrict partnerships for shared meal preparation.
Our Impacts
4 West Marin school districts participating in unified wellness policy updates and joint procurement efforts.
$62,000+ directed to local agriculture for school meal procur\ement, engaging 7–12 local farms (CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant).
$700,000+ secured across federal, state, and local sources for regional farm-to-school initiatives.
460+ pounds of fresh produce harvested from school gardens for meals and community distribution.
85%.
As a result of our collective work, the Lagunitas Food Service Director was selected by the California Department of Education to serve on the Child Nutrition Advisory Council (CNAC).
Success Story
In partnership with Marin Childcare Council, Papermill Creek Children’s Corner in Point Reyes Station and West Marin Climate Action, the Garden Steward program was formed. Papermill Creek Children’s Corner has a large outdoor learning space that includes room for growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs, and West Marin Climate Action volunteers are helping steward the edibles garden. The preschool kids love to get their hands in the soil and help plant seeds, hill potatoes, and look for bugs. They are always eager to “browse the garden” and taste whatever is growing.
The Garden Stewards not only tend to the garden but also provide garden lessons for the kids. They cover topics on seeds; rice, pumpkin, peppercorns, acorns, sunflowers, and more. During one of the Fall lessons, the children eagerly cracked open dry bean pods, revealing colorful beans in many shapes and sizes. Another day, they pried rainbow kernels from dried corncobs destined for the popcorn popper. Other lessons throughout the year have explored herbs and flowers that support pollinators. When the kids were learning about insects with their teachers, the Stewards brought in butterfly larvae and chrysalises. A visit from a family of baby chicks and their mama accompanied by a lesson on eggs was a huge hit. It’s rewarding to work in the beautiful Papermill Creek garden and to learn with young kids about where their food comes from!
“We are extremely grateful to have Kathy and Michele support our little but mighty school garden; learning how to grow, harvest, and care for it is key to supporting children’s nutritional practices.”
Partners
Conscious Kitchen
Marin Child Care Council
Marin School and Community Garden Network
West Marin school districts (4)