St. Anne’s-Belfield School partnering with Local Food Hub to mark Farm to School Week

St. Anne’s-Belfield School will partner with Local Food Hub to celebrate Virginia Farm to School Week, Oct. 1-5. Local Food Hub will supply cafeterias in six public school districts and one private school with fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and other products grown and made by Virginia farmers and producers.

“Since our founding in 2009, Local Food Hub has worked with its partner farms and with area school systems to provide schoolchildren with a bounty of local goods during this important week,” said Kristen Suokko, executive director of Local Food Hub. “Farm to School Week provides a special opportunity to build greater connections among community, food, and farms.”

Local Food Hub is a nonprofit organization that partners with more than 60 small family farmers and producers in Virginia to increase access to local food. It serves as an aggregation and distribution point for farm sourced food, provides training and technical assistance to its partner farms, and works in the community to increase healthy food access for everyone. Virginia Farm to School Week is organized by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and coincides with National Farm to School Month, declared for the month of October by the U.S. Congress.

During Virginia Farm to School Week, Local Food Hub will provide schools with pastured beef, pastured pork, apples, apple cider, broccoli, green beans, peaches, delicata squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, whole wheat flour, onions, grapes, and more. Schools will turn this bounty into dishes such as baked spaghetti with beef meat sauce, homemade vegetable soup, roasted potatoes and onions, farmers market salsa, and more. In Staunton City Schools, elementary students will use green beans in a math exercise before the beans are sent to the kitchen to be cooked for lunch. Local products purchased by schools for the week total more than $12,300.

Partnering schools include Albemarle County Schools, Charlottesville City Schools, Harrisonburg City Schools, Nelson County Schools, Rappahannock County Schools, Staunton City Schools, and St. Anne’s-Belfield School.

Local Food Hub is a nonprofit organization that partners with Virginia farmers to increase community access to local food. It provides the support services, infrastructure, and market opportunities that connect people with food grown close to home. To learn more about Local Food Hub, please visitwww.localfoodhub.org.