El Segundo Unified

This December, 2007, El Segundo Middle School in Los Angeles County supported South Coast Farms as it launched Growing Healthy Spouts, an agricultural and environmental awareness program developed by Sara Frugard, South Coast Farms CSA manager. Together South Coast Farms and the El Segundo Wellness Committee developed a healthy holiday farm-raiser. The farm-raiser was able to capitalize on the holiday season and sold the CSA baskets as organic holiday dinner baskets to school children’s parents. CSA foods were marketed as the ingredients for a spectacular local holiday dinner! Proceeds from the holiday basket sales, 15% of the total sales went to the school the remainder went to South Coast Farms, will be used to create a scholarship for a high school senior planning to study in the field of agricultural sciences or health related studies. The basket sale to parents and staff serves as a take home message, to reinforce the salad bar themes both for children and their parents that healthy habitats start at home! In conjunction with the farm-raiser and at the request of Counselor Lori-Klein and the El Segundo Middle School Wellness Committee, Sarah Frugard of South Coast Farms and Vanessa Zajfen of the Center for Food & Justice gave organic agricultural and education classroom presentations to the entire school population, 800 students! Presentations lasted about 20-25 minutes and included an interactive organic vs. conventional farm demonstration and the deconstruction of a CSA basket followed by a Q&A session. The farm-raiser and farmer in the classroom visit is hopefully the first step of many in developing a long-term farm to school program in the El Segundo Unified School District. The district currently has salad bars in all of it schools, however salad bar foods are not local. The farm-raiser was a one-time event.