The Jefferson Area Food and Nutrition Pilot program kicked off after a year of work by the committee made up of parents, students, school staff, community leaders, and district and JESPA leadership. Kitchen staff at Jefferson Jr/Sr, Lumberg Elementary and Edgewater Elementary Kim Barnard, Eva Parilla, Martha Ramirez, Lail Skelsky, Nuris Martinez, Theresa Martinez, Sulema Trujillo, and countless others, have done an amazing job and made the day successful. They served Chicken and Plant-based Bowls with Corn and Black Bean Salsa on the menu and we received a lot of positive feedback. They heard lots of positive comments from students about the meals, and school staff also purchased meals and ate with the students.
This pilot also marked the beginning of the district’s partnership with East Denver Food Hub and the kitchens received items from a number of local farms to be served at the pilot sites throughout the week. The fruits and veggies at the pilot sites looked and tasted amazing. Thank you to East Denver Food Hub and the local farms below for providing some of these local, fresh and delicious items!
- Cucumbers and Cherry Tomatoes from Hoffman Farms
- Peaches from Bluebird Organic Fruit Co
- Pears from Fuller Orchards
Next up, the teams will serve have Beef and Vegetarian Lasagna on the menu Wednesday, 9/27 and Thursday, 9/28.
We want to congratulate the FNS department including Beth Wallace, Executive Director Erika Edwards, Shelby Ruffalo (dietitian) and Sam Knipple (chef), Geri Coleman, supervisor who helped make this pilot launch happen! A lot of work went into introducing these new menu items to our students and we appreciate all the care this team put into making this happen!
An extra special shout out to both Hallie Nelson of the Jeffco Food Policy Council, and the families from Edgewater Collective for putting their hearts and hard work into engaging with he school district to make this pilot launch a success. We look forward to more good work during the 2nd year of the pilot, and seeing the pilot work grow!
