Two meetings to advance the discussion started last month at the North Olympic Peninsula Farm to Cafeteria conference are scheduled this week.
In Port Angeles, a short documentary about two Washington state school districts that buy and serve local foods to students, “Stepping Up to the Plate,” will be shown Monday.
The film by Candice Cosler, which will begin at 6 p.m. at the Port Angeles Public Library, 2210 South Peabody St., will be followed by a review of highlights of the conference, said Beth Loveridge, a conference organizer and member of the Port Angeles School District’s Committee for Nutrition and Exercise.
“At 7 p.m. we will turn our attention to current and ongoing efforts to bring more fresh, wholesome food into our cafeterias,” Loveridge said.
“This ‘after-conference’ event is for anybody and everybody that wants to be informed and involved with influencing the food system on the North Olympic Peninsula.”
In Port Townsend, a panel discussion on health and economic benefits of serving locally-grown food at schools will be conducted at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Quimper Unitarian Church, 2333 San Juan Ave.
Panelists included Susan O’Brien, a family nurse practitioner and clinician at the Port Townsend High School health clinic, who will talk about how healthy diets for students affect academic success and behavior problems.
Healthy replacements
Kit Simeon, a former member of the Quilcene School Board, will tell how during her tenure, pop machines were removed from the school, chocolate milk was no longer offered with lunch, whole wheat flour replaced white flour in school baking, and brown rice replaced white rice.
Quilcene Schools reduced garbage fees by starting a recycling program, said Cosler, Jefferson County school garden coordinator.
“Kit also donated a greenhouse for the school garden and worked with kids of various garden projects,” Cosler said.
Nutrition film
Cosler was one of the organizers of the Farm to Cafeteria conference, held at the Jamestown Tribal Center in Blyn on Nov. 5, where her film “Stepping Up to the Plate,” debuted.
It will be shown again at the Port Townsend meeting, as will segments of talks given at the conference by Washington Secretary of Health Mary Selecky, Tricia Sexton-Kovacs, the state’s Department of Agriculture Farm to School coordinator, and Bill Evans, former superintendent of the Lopez Island School District.
Sebastian Aguilar, an organic farmer and father of three school-age children, also will be on the Port Townsend panel.
Aguilar has been hired to run a farmer training program and community-supported agriculture program on Whidbey Island, Cosler said, and is an advocate of programs that promote health and sustainability.
Hospital representative
A representative of Jefferson Healthcare hospital also may be on the panel of Port Townsend meeting.
Donations will be accepted at the Port Townsend meeting. Child care will be available. For more information, e-mail Candice Cosler at coslercs@gmail.com.
Children are welcome at the Port Angeles meeting, but space is limited.
RSVP by e-mailing farm tocafnow@yahoo.com or phoning 360-809-0027.
There will also be a presentation about Menu for the Future, a Northwest Earth Institute course starting in January in Port Angeles, which includes discussion of sustainable farming and food production.
________
Port Townsend/Jefferson County reporter-columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.