As you might remember from What’s On Your Plate?, The Neighborhood School (TNS) didn’t have a functioning stove in their kitchen and was having difficulties trying to get one, although not for lack of persistence.
The back-story is that parents at TNS offered to pay for a new stove out of their own pockets, but as it turned out the issue wasn’t simply a question of funds—the real problem was with the ansul system (i.e. fire suppression system) and not the stove itself. The old ansul system is extremely out-of-date and they need to upgrade it in order to operate a stove. This all means that TNS essentially needs to remodel their entire kitchen just to cook with a stove.
Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiropractic/
There hasn’t been a usable stove at The Neighborhood School for ten years. The vast majority of the kitchen’s food arrives frozen or precooked, so the TNS kitchen is very limited in what they can actually cook (not just reheat) for their students. Jackie Vargas, the head dietician, and the other kitchen staff roast a chicken every month and make sandwiches for the kids’ lunches, but that’s all they can do with their current resources. They’ve come up with many creative workarounds, such as using the oven to sauté foods, but there are still many things that they can’t cook without a stove, like pastas and soups. The kitchen staff is very frustrated because they can’t make food as fresh as they would like.
We found from Helen Martineau, of The Neighborhood School’s Wellness Committee, that in January 2011 TNS was able to get an inspector from the Department of Education (DOE) to come through the kitchen for a feasibility study. The inspector determined that it would be possible to put in not only a new exhaust and ansul system but also a new stove (and maybe even some new floors and counters). TNS planned to go forward with this remodeling, but found out in April 2011 that to get DOE funding, they would need to fill out a capital budget application. The application is very involved (around 120 pages long!) and they needed the feasibility study’s results in order to submit it. However, those results weren’t finalized until mid-May and the deadline was the beginning of April. What a crazy system!
A few of the parents tried to figure out a way to pay for it without the DOE’s support, but it was too complex to accomplish in the time they had left. So, they were unable to complete the application in 2011. As of now, they do plan on re-applying. There is just one more potential hurdle: the DOE prioritizes school renovations according to how much of a direct physical threat the current situation poses. That said, here’s some food for thought: while preventing immediate physical harm is imperative, physical health down the line is just as important. You also have to think about what happens in the long run—this generation may be the first generation of Americans in over 200 years to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents due to complication from obesity. And that, my friends, is scary to think about.
Anyway, this Department of Education policy would mean that…
It might still take a few more years for TNS to finally be able to cook with a stove, even if their application gets accepted.
We will continue to keep you updated on the progress, and hope to have good news for you in 2012 on The Neighborhood School’s stove and kitchen renovation.
Also, a big thank you to Cat Gund and Helen Martineau for contributing research!
Sarah Jerasa’s 4th and 5th grade class project on homelessness and hunger awareness at The Project School in Bloomington, Indiana, is a recipient of the What’s On Your Plate? Buy a Bundle – Give a Bundle Initiative.
Just a few weeks ago, we received a letter from Sarah Jerasa, one of the teachers in a combined 4th and 5th grade classroom at The Project School, a charter school in Bloomington, Indiana. She inquired about hosting a screening of What’s On Your Plate? this December on behalf of her students. She wrote: “Our students and school are truly passionate about working towards making change in our community and reaching out to other communities. I think our work would be really inspiring for others to see.” We are always looking for passionate kids like Sadie, Safiyah and Oliver, who are devoted to affecting positive social, political and environmental change. We did some research and found that The Project School’s mission and Ms. Jerasa’s class proposal were perfectly in line with our goals!
The Project School and What’s On Your Plate? share a commitment to inspiring kids to engage with issues that directly impacts their lives. The Project School describes their school curriculum as, “project-based, problem-based, and place-based” and “directly connected to issues in their local and global communities.”
Ms. Jerasa’s current class project focuses on issues that What’s On Your Plate? is very much concerned with: addressing homelessness and hunger on a local and global scale. When Ms. Jerasa wrote to us, the class had already watched What’s On Your Plate? and performed the calorie experiment from the film. Her class was so excited by the experience, they decided they would like to host a public screening of What’s On Your Plate? to raise funds to support the following hunger-focused initiatives:
- Funding a well for a village in Africa to provide clean water - Donating an animal for a community through the Heifer International Organization - Donating medical supplies and food to local shelters in their community.
The Project School’s focus on community engagement, and the student-led campaign to address homelessness and hunger motivated us to include Ms. Jerasa’s class project in our Holiday Buy a Bundle – Give a Bundle Initiative. We have no doubt The Project School will make amazing use of the What’s On Your Plate? bundles they receive. We hope you will join us in supporting Ms. Jerasa’s 4th and 5th grade class project on homelessness and hunger awareness!
Harlem Seeds is a recipient of the What’s On Your Plate? Buy a Bundle – Give a Bundle Initiative.
If you have the chance to make it to Harlem Seeds’ Harlem Family Dinner on December 16, chances are you might hear one of the following exclamations around the dinner table:
“This is delicious!”
“I never knew Kale could taste this good!”
And one of our favorites:
“What’s on your plate?”
Harlem Seeds, co-founded by sisters Michele Hatchette and Stephanie Mack, is a Harlem-based non-profit organization dedicated to empowering Harlem youth to fuel their bodies with clean, safe, and healthy foods.
We first met the women behind Harlem Seeds at a community screening of What’s On Your Plate? in Harlem on October 3, 2011. An instant connection was established. We were working towards the same end: educating and empowering youth to make happy, healthy and informed decisions about what they put in their bodies.
In November, we invited Harlem Seeds co-founder, Stephanie Mack, to speak at the What’s On Your Plate? Story Leads to Action event at the 92YTribeca. She was joined by two other panelists: Maritza Owens, founder of the Harvest Home Farmer’s Market and Deb Lewison-Grant co-founder of Food Fight.
Stephanie’s discussion with the audience was uplifting and exciting. She described different components of Harlem Seeds’ programming like the Cooking Club, a group of fifteen students that meet every Friday to cook and learn about making healthy food choices. She also described Harlem Seeds’ community outreach work, and the Thanksgiving Produce Bags they put together for GrowNYC to sell at La Marqueta just prior to Thanksgiving.
Stephanie talked about the philosophy behind Harlem Seeds. She mentioned the inspiring thought that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a right we all share, and if we commit to that idea, making healthy choices can evolve from a burden to a means of empowerment.
Stephanie will be integrating the holiday bundles into the Harlem Seeds Harlem Family Dinner on December 16. We hope you will support their work, and buy a bundle and donate a bundle (or three!) to Harlem Seeds!
