Food and healthy eating advocates alike have been praising farm to table efforts for a number of years, and with its Farm2School Salad Bar initiative, School District 53 is bringing the health, nutritional and food security benefits of farm to table eating to Oliver Elementary School.
“It’s really a community effort,” said Barton Tumlinson, principal of Oliver Elementary. “Local farmers provide fresh vegetables in season, a local caterer prepares the meals, volunteers from the Lions and Lioness Clubs deliver the meals, and a group of dedicated parents help prepare and clean up.”
For the third year in a row, Valley First Credit Union is pleased to support School District 53’s initiative with a $5,000 community endowment grant to promote food security and nutrition within the Oliver community.
“Because of the support we received from Valley First, we were able to divert some school funds to help start a breakfast program on days when there is no salad bar. In this way, the dollars that we received from Valley First doubled the impact on students,” Tumlinson said
The Farm2School Salad Bar program supports more than 70 students at Oliver Elementary. Healthy lunches using fresh, local ingredients are served twice a week, fulfilling the school’s main goal of ensuring as many students as possible are properly nourished at school. The program provides an opportunity for education, too. Students learn about the importance of nutrition and food security, and gain understanding of the process of growing and getting food from farm to table. In-class lessons and field trips to local farms are also offered.
“By having this program in our school, we strive to positively impact student learning through good nutrition and healthy living education,” said Tumlinson.
Valley First is a division of First West Credit Union, BC’s third largest credit union, which has 37 branches and 29 insurance offices throughout the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Kitimat and Okanagan, Similkameen and Thompson valleys. First West has approximately $6.6 billion in assets under administration, more than 169,000 members and close to 1,400 employees.
