This is Pellston Public Schools’ first year as a FoodCorps service site. New food service director Sherry Sedore, staff and students will benefit from the presence of this AmeriCorps program dedicated to “creating a future in which every school is a healthy school, and every child is well-nourished and ready to learn.”
Otsego Memorial Hospital is one of more than 1,300 hospitals nationwide that have joined the Healthier Hospitals Initiative and are striving to provide their patients with balanced, nutritious and sustainable meals.
Thanks to the Michigan Legislature, schools in 29 counties of Michigan have just been notified of an opportunity to tap into state funds to show the difference a dime can make in their efforts to serve Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables and dry beans to students. Michigan legislators expanded the popular 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program from $250,000 in general funds last year to $375,000 for the upcoming school year; and added a third, six-county region in Washtenaw in southeast Michigan.
A Building Healthy Communities grant has helped the Friendship Centers of Emmet County implement a thriving Farm to Senior project which strives to bring delicious, nutritional and environmentally friendly food to more people around the county.
Doctors typically learn little about nutrition, much less cooking, in medical school. But combining those topics with medicine is a trend that’s garnering headlines for Harvard Medical School with a conference it holds in California wine country; and Tulane University in food-rich New Orleans. Now, a local food version of this idea is launching in Traverse City, starting with a Culinary Medicine conference in September that will be a pilot for future programs. The theme: Think Like a Chef, Cook Like a Dietitian, Eat Like a Local Farmer.
Leelanau Christian Neighbors provides food for children living below the federal poverty line to take home with them over the weekend, a critical time when they might not get all the nutrition they need. The Lake Leelanau-based nonprofit received a Building Healthy Communities grant to build two dozen raised beds to grow produce for those it serves.