Annual Report 2021—2022

Stories of Service

Celebrating Culture, Community, and the Future of Food Education

We have partnered with schools in Maine since our inaugural program year, 2011. Communities here celebrate culture, each other, and long-term investments in nutrition education. In Portland, where there is a large population of Central and East African community members, high school students took part in tastings of African-influenced lunch items. This was made possible by a grant written by the service site, Cultivating Community, with support from FoodCorps Service Member Mercia Ckaba Thomas, as well as the district’s decision to contract mobile African food market leader Khadija Ahmed and school nutrition consultant Samantha Cowens-Gasbarro. In Eustis, Maine, FoodCorps Service Member Erin Greatorex helped Stratton School host its annual community meal—a lunch prepared entirely by students and featuring local harvests that fed more than 150 parents, educators, kids, and school staff.

As a testament to the power of partnership, Portland Public Schools graduated from FoodCorps’ service program during the 2021-2022 school year. Service Member Lilly Kendall helped create a transition plan and supported the district’s planning, including preparation to hire five full-time, fully-funded garden educators to provide garden classes to every student across five elementary schools.

When Curiosity Leads to Choice

When every student at Thomas Hooker School in Connecticut wrote Service Member Alexis Maresca a farewell card, mentioning their favorite lesson, food tasting, or moment in the garden, she knew that she—alongside partner Green Village Initiative—made a real difference in their lives. Whether teaching her students about food justice, the benefits of eating phytonutrients, composting, or sensory observation, she found great joy in watching how their curiosity and excitement translated to a greater sense of choice and empowerment. Alexis recalls her favorite memories from the year: second graders enthusiastically identifying the sprouts of the seeds they planted, students requesting seconds after tasting lettuce and island peppers from a local farm, classes—by choice—picking up garbage around the entire school after a family beautification day at the school garden, and a sixth grader—who was previously uninterested in food or participation—trying everything and eventually joining bake club after a transformative taste test.

“Your influence is powerful.” — A surprised teacher who texted Alexis after her class requested hummus and veggies at a pizza party following a hummus lesson and tasting.

A Return to Tradition Honors Culture and Creates Learning Opportunities

In just a few years, New Mexico’s Santa Fe Indian School has returned to traditional farming methods used by students in the late 1800s. Originally founded as a boarding school to assimilate Native children, Sante Fe Indian School was turned over to be held in trust for the 19 Pueblo Governors of New Mexico in 2000. Under the guidance of the school’s Director of Wellness, Maria Brock, an acre of land was set aside for farming. A small team–including local farmers, two school staff, and FoodCorps Service Member Jennifer Hill–went to work creating eight raised garden beds, in-ground gardens using traditional gardening methods like waffle gardens—a practice of the Zuni Pueblo—and planting crops, including melons, blue corn, and red amaranth, which are all used in traditional Indigenous cooking.

“So much has been accomplished in just a few years due in part to a true commitment to understanding and respecting the rich culture, wisdom and history of the community,” shares Alicia Chavez, New Mexico Impact and Partnerships Lead. Upcoming plans include building outdoor ovens, or “hornos,” that will enable students to prepare foods using a traditional method.

The Power of Being

“I am here being for my students who I needed when I was a kid,” shared Mississippi Service Member Kevion Young. Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, Kevion has deep ties and a strong commitment to the community. When Kevion noted the stressors impacting children as a result of the pandemic, he taught students emotional regulation strategies, including how to use herbs like basil they had grown in their school garden to make tea to calm themselves when feeling anxious or upset. He also introduced children to meditation—a practice they requested to take part in regularly. While the pandemic brought challenges, Kevion noted that it “helped us to slow down, really check in with each other, and remember the importance of the ‘BE’ in ‘human being.’ I am grateful to honor the humanity in the children I work with and be able to use nature and holistic practices that remind them to simply be.”

With their spirits and minds balanced, students would often turn to Kevion for energizing, plant-based smoothies made with ingredients grown in their garden to nourish their bodies.

Stocking Staples Despite Supply Chain Struggles

Abigail Pierce, a School Nutrition Service Member, found herself facing down a unique challenge in her first year of service: strained supply chains. The costs of meat and poultry were skyrocketing, and plastic and paper containers were scarce. What’s a service member to do? Abigail helped build new relationships with local farmers to keep beef and pork—Southern staples for the kids in her Georgia community—stocked and on the school lunch menu. More specifically, she worked with Potts Bros Farm to supply her schools with hamburger meat and a custom-created sausage patty that reflect the National School Lunch Program’s dietary guidelines, which her schools must meet with every meal they serve.

“We have seen about a 32% increase in student participation in student meals since 2019, our last school year before all meals were free due to the waivers,” says Abigail.