North Fork school districts were recently awarded a nearly $68,000 state grant to help further their school garden programs, according to a press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.
The grant money is part of Mr. Cuomo’s $500,000 initiative to fund Farm-to-School projects across the state in an effort to increase the amount of “healthy, locally grown foods offered on school menus,” the release states.
The funds are to be used to hire Farm-to-School coordinators, train food service staff, provide nutrition education in classrooms, purchase equipment to support food preparation and increase the volume and variety of local specialty crops, officials said.
Lucy Senesac, the North Fork’s Farm-to-School coordinator, said the grant will be used to establish a food hub where local food can be stored and later distributed across the districts.
“It’s exciting,” said Ms. Senesac, who also works at Sang Lee Farms in Peconic. “It’s nice that all the North Fork schools are getting together to do it.”
Ms. Senesac worked with David Gamberg, superintendent of Southold and Greenport school districts, and Mattituck-Cutchogue superintendent Anne Smith.
Last year, the districts came together, hired a grant writer and applied for the grant, which they didn’t receive. This year, they had the opportunity to revise the grant and reapply, said Ms. Senesac, who has been helping local schools cultivate their gardens. She has also teaching students in grades K-12 about agriculture and their environment.
“When you grow food in a garden, a lot of it is being in the garden and that experience, learning things through that,” she said. “A secondary part of that is getting the produce in the cafeteria, which is always challenging.
“This is a way to follow up on those lessons that they’re learning in the garden and they’re able to actually eat things that they’re growing and in general getting better quality food that’s fresher and better for them, better tasting.”
File photo: Lucy Senesac of Sang Lee Farms picks carrots at Southold Elementary School’s organic garden. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)
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