{"id":122940,"date":"2013-11-21T23:24:07","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T06:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/u-s-funds-will-help-bring-more-local-food-to-schools\/"},"modified":"2013-11-21T23:24:07","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T06:24:07","slug":"u-s-funds-will-help-bring-more-local-food-to-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/u-s-funds-will-help-bring-more-local-food-to-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. funds will help bring more local food to schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Animas
Animas Valley Elementary School third-grader Rose Reiter, front, second-grader Delaine Mize and coordinator Cody Reinheimer collect lettuce in the greenhouse for the school\u2019s food assistance program. Rose is the daughter of John Reiter and Briggen Wrinkle, and Delaine is the daughter of Dean and Colleen Mize.<\/span>STEVE LEWIS\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For some Four Corners residents \u2013 whose appetite for organic, locally grown foods can surpass the available funds in their checking accounts \u2013 the quest to eat healthy can feel doomed, a case of enlightened champagne tastes betrayed by a beer budget.<\/p>\n

But federal intervention means that, going forward, there will be fewer financial obstacles to healthful eating for Southwest Colorado\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it is awarding Durango School District 9-R a grant totaling nearly $100,000 to expand its Farm-to-School program, which puts locally grown fruits, vegetables and meats in public-school cafeterias.<\/p>\n

The grant money will be spent transforming a district building into a hub facility with lots more room and ample refrigeration. It will serve Bayfield, Ignacio, Cortez and Mancos school districts\u2019 Farm-to-School programs in addition to Durango\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The USDA\u2019s Kevin Concannon, undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, said more than 350 districts applied for the grant, and only 71 applications were successful.<\/p>\n

He said the USDA decided to bestow $100,000 on Durango because it already has proved itself an innovator. Already, 20 percent of the food Durango students consume is locally grown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith grants like this, we\u2019re building on the leadership and pioneering effort Durango has already shown,\u201d Concannon said.<\/p>\n

Like the uncomfortably tight clothes of a teenager in a growth spurt (or an adult fan of french fries), the district\u2019s consumption of locally grown foods already has outstripped its capacity to store them, said Krista Garand, student nutrition director for the district.<\/p>\n

Indeed, faced with particularly large volumes of locally grown food, the district occasionally has been forced to store excess fresh produce in Durango High School coolers.<\/p>\n

Concannon said the new facility will allow Durango and the four surrounding districts to order potatoes, apples, squash and greens in a heretofore impossible dimension of bulk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will let them purchase much larger amounts of food,\u201d he said. \u201cIt provides additional infrastructure capacity, and we know that the issue of price leverage is important because schools have a limited number of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

District spokeswoman Julie Popp said the district\u2019s mechanics building likely would be the food facility\u2019s new home.<\/p>\n

Depending when the USDA\u2019s check comes in, Garand said, \u201cWe\u2019ll start working on it as soon as we possibly can.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemolition \u2013 that needs to happen first and, of course, some buildout,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how they\u2019re going to distribute the funds \u2013 but it would be fantastic if we were ready for the harvest season in August. I don\u2019t know; that might be a little ambitious.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a week of grim local news, including the death of two miners in Ouray and a remembrance for Dylan Redwine, the grant\u2019s announcement inspired much fanfare. Garand said she was delighted; Popp said the news was wonderful; the USDA sent out an effusive round of emails, and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet\u2019s office issued a triumphant news release announcing Durango had won a \u201c$90,000\u201d Farm-to-School grant.<\/p>\n

Actually, the grant is for $99,998 \u2013 or $2 short of $100,000.<\/p>\n

Asked why the USDA had awarded Durango $99,998 instead of a round $100,000, Concannon laughed, and said, \u201cI think that was the sale price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garand, who wrote the grant application, said the USDA wasn\u2019t penny-pinching: $100,000 was the maximum grant, and when the district itemized its prospective spending, the bill ran to $99,998.<\/p>\n

Asked how Garand would celebrate the grant, Popp suggested she\u2019d \u201ceat an apple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garand laughed, saying she\u2019d reread her grant application, \u201cand think about all the things I have to do now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of money, prestige and the district\u2019s flourishing Farm-to-School program, Concannon said Durango has much to be proud of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Colorado is ahead of the curve in this regard in general,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd with this grant, we\u2019re excited to build on a beachhead like Durango that has systems like this that have already made a creative, pioneering effort\u201d to supply students with locally grown foods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we can prevail with this over time, and have healthier kids and happier kids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Concannon said if Durango kept up all it\u2019s good work with Farm-to-Schools, it might yet receive more grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext time, we\u2019ll see what we can do about the $2,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

cmacallister@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cortez, Mancos will benefit from $100,000 grant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[281,1086,519,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-122940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-agriculture","tag-durango-school-district-9-r","tag-dylan-redwine","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122940"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=122940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}