School Nutrition Bulletin 2021-17

Thursday, October 29, 2020

2:00 - 3:00 p.m. CST

 

Learning Objective(s): Attendees will identify strategies and best practices to help implement a successful farm to school program.

 

Join Julie Brewer, the Director of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Office of Community Food Systems (OCFS) to learn about the USDA Farm to School Program. This webinar will explore resources and support that OCFS provides in order to support the implementation of local farm to school programs. The webinar will also highlight success stories from USDA Farm to School Program Grantees who are adapting their work around gardening, local procurement and agriculture education in creative ways to support children, families, and communities in response to the pandemic.

 

Webinar registration link: https://theicn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2pOaWwiZTkWZln5t3_djBA

 

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has released a new Team Nutrition resource for school meals operators, “School Meals Programs: Providing Multiple Meals at a Time During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.” This new publication provides National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program operators with technical assistance on the amounts of foods needed for multiple day distribution, use of “bulk” foods, best practices, and parent communication.

 

Other Team Nutrition COVID-19 resources are available at: https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/covid19-resources.

 

According to “COVID-19: Child Nutrition Response #60,” the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has extended the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO) to operate through June 30, 2021.

 

If your School Food Authority (SFA) operates the SSO, there are no forms for you to update at this time. A member from the School Nutrition Team will contact your SFA in the coming weeks to gather information regarding your new end date for the SSO and to discuss any other questions you may have about operating this program. Please work with the necessary SFA staff members to determine your SSO end date as soon as possible so that you can be prepared for this call. Your SSO end date could be your last instructional day or until June 30, 2021.

 

If your SFA operates SFSP, the SFSP contract cannot be updated with 2021 dates until January 2021. Amy Kolano will notify you of the exact date the 2021 SFSP contract will open for updates and what will need to be updated later this fall.

 

It is time to start evaluating your equipment needs! USDA has released Memo SP 17-2020 regarding the Fiscal Year 2020 National School Lunch Program Equipment Assistance Grant for School Food Authorities (SFAs). USDA awarded Wisconsin $399,042 to distribute to SFAs.

 

 

 

Applications can be found on our Equipment Grant webpage.

 

For more information on how to create equipment specifications and obtain bids, visit https://youtu.be/2-17Op-KHHw.

 

We’re sharing easy-to-access Educational and Enrichment Activities you can provide directly to students with their afterschool snack. Most of these activities work for in-person learners or for virtual students and they all celebrate Wisconsin Farm to School Month! There are a variety of activities for different ages. You can share the links with families, print out the activity sheets and slide them into a snack sack, or play the videos during snack time, as you wish. We hope this is helpful to those of you providing afterschool snacks!

 

Here is this week’s curated list. For each activity, click on the links below.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

 

This is a communication from the WI Department of Public Instruction, School Nutrition Team.

You can contact the School Nutrition Team at dpifns@dpi.wi.gov. To subscribe to schoolmealsnews, please send an email to dpifns@dpi.wi.gov.

dpi.wi.gov/school-nutrition #WISchoolMealsRock