School Lunch Heroes Are Feeding the Future

School lunch heroes are feeding the future. Who are these heroes and what are they doing that’s really “feeding the future?” The answer is the array of school lunch professionals who prepare and serve daily school lunch to our school children. Of course, OUR CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE! Especially in today’s world, where many students are malnourished (and also likely part of the unhoused community as well). The challenge is to ensure that there is plentiful, nutritious food for ALL school-age children (and is food kids will actually eat!). This can be a daunting task. That’s why there are special efforts to acknowledge and thank school food service teams for taking on this challenge.

GrantWatch joins in this salute to the unsung school lunch heroes. In fact, they have provided a list of grants that address agricultural research, education, and sustainability, which are at the heart of school food service. In addition, GrantWatch offers a list of over 500 grants in its Nutrition and Food grant listing category. Beyond that, GrantWatch lists grants that are available to fund national and even international projects and programs.

Things to Do to Honor and Celebrate Our School Lunch Heroes

We encourage you to take this opportunity to praise, celebrate, and spotlight nutrition professionals and their one-of-a-kind superpowers. Below are some ways you can join the celebration:

Be thankful: Encourage students to create homemade thank you or appreciation cards to share with their favorite school lunch heroes.

Get creative: Promote School Lunch Hero Day by creating posters to display in common areas for all students and teachers to read, praise, and enjoy.

Give back: Switch roles and let the students and teachers serve their nutrition professionals a well-deserved, scratch cooked, local, fresh meal or snack.

Get social: Create a shout out for your nutrition team on social media. Make an individual post for each staff member thanking them and highlighting their unique superpowers. Use the hashtag #SchoolLunchHeroDay.

cde.ca.gov, “Student Lunch Hero Day–May 3, 2024”

Things to Know About School Food Professionals

School food professionals in California are committed to increasing scratch cooking and incorporating fresh, locally grown, and even organic ingredients into their school meals so that students have access to quality, flavorful, culturally relevant, and nutritious meals.

School lunch Hero Day provides an excellent opportunity to acknowledge and thank these dedicated and unstoppable heroes and heroines on your school food service team!

Your school food service professionals are not only influential in your local cafeteria, but they also help strong and lead the monumental Universal Meals Program (UMP) movement.

These culinary professionals are the cornerstone of this program.

School meals are often the healthiest meals students eat, changing and shaping the health of students today and tomorrow.

cde.ca.gov, “Student Lunch Hero Day–May 3, 2024”

Below is a list of (agriculture and/or) nutrition-related grants and other grant funding opportunities.

Grants to Address Nutrition and Food-Related Issues

1. Grants to colleges and universities to promote agricultural sustainability. Prior to applying, required registrations will be complete. Funding is for creative projects that integrate research, education, and extension activities. The purpose of the program is to effectively use a systems approach to promote the convergence of technology. The goal is to solve challenges to current and future food and agricultural production systems.
2. There are grants of up to $1,000 to state and county farm bureaus for K-12 classroom agricultural literacy programs. Funding will be to start new or expand existing agricultural literacy programs. The goal is to build capacity by funding items that can be used repeatedly. All applications must be for agricultural literacy programs and not address farm safety education.
3. In addition, grants to state and local governments, Tribes, for-profits, and nonprofit organizations for new projects that enhance food-assistance program operations. Required registrations will take several weeks to complete. Funding is for the development and implementation of supplemental nutrition assistance programs, utilizing simplified application and eligibility determination systems.
4. Grants to nonprofits, medical and educational institutions, and faith-based and community organizations for nutrition-related research/education/training programs. Priority will be for training, educational programs, and research projects stressing the connection between health and diet.
5. There are grants to eligible nonprofits, government agencies, schools, and libraries for programs that address food security. Contact must be made with the funding source prior to submitting a proposal. The purpose of the program is to address malnutrition by ensuring access to and use of nutritious foods.

Additional Grants, Along With Awards and Fellowships

1. Also grants to Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), research institutions, agencies, nonprofits, private organizations and individuals to enhance and promote children’s nutritional-health/agricultural-education. Required registrations must be completed prior to applying. Projects are for eligible applicants to expand existing farm-to-school initiatives and other food and agricultural learning initiatives.
2. Grants to eligible school districts, charter schools, and private schools for agriculture-related programming. Funding is to benefit Pre-K through eighth grade students by providing access to local, healthy foods. The program will also increase students’ exposure to the agriculture industry.
3. There are awards to nonprofits and enterprises in recognition of outstanding sustainability projects. Funding areas of interest include food, health, and global schools. A lasting plan must be presented to further deploy a solution and scale up its impact.
4. In addition, grants and fellowships to nonprofit and for-profit organizations, IHEs, and individuals for agricultural research/education programs. Required registrations must be completed prior to applying. The program supports research, education, and extension projects that address key problems of local, regional, national, and global significance in sustaining conventional, organic, urban food, agricultural and natural systems.
5. Lastly, grants to eligible nonprofits, public schools, and government agencies for agricultural advancement projects. All applicants must submit a Letter of Intent (LOI). New applicants must first contact staff prior to applying. Previous grants have been awarded for community gardens, a school farm, and farmers’ markets.

The Bottom Line

We hope you’ll have the opportunity to honor your local School Lunch Heroes and show your appreciation for all that they do to keep children ‘nutritiously’ well fed!

About GrantWatch

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Please Note: There is no guarantee by GrantWatch nor the author of grant awards as a result of this information.