COMMUNITY:
Walk in at lunchtime on Wednesday to the Village School in Eugene and you won't find a mystery meat entrée. You'll find an amazing bean and rice bowl with veggies, fruit, avocado, a salad and dressing options made from scratch by the Village School Kitchen.
Born from a setback
The kitchen exists because of a loss. In the spring of 2011, Eugene School District 4J announced it would no longer serve lunches in its four charter schools. Two Village School parents, Toña Aguilar and Stacey Black, saw an opportunity. Both belonged to a group lobbying for better school meals, and they studied national school lunch requirements, made lists of kitchen supplies, and started a "can you help" campaign around town. The Village School Kitchen opened that fall with a menu built on local, organic food prepared fresh every day.
Healthy food, kids included
The school offers one homemade, all-vegetarian lunch option each day. Kids are part of the process too: kitchen staff involve students throughout the lunch program, with kids helping in the kitchen, writing out daily menu boards, and joining taste-tests. The kitchen has also earned national attention, including a grand prize in the 2015 Golden Carrot Awards from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
A community effort
This program runs on people power. Parents volunteer over 1,500 hours each school year in the kitchen, and the school leans on local farms and community donors to keep costs manageable, which matters for a charter school that gets less funding than traditional public schools. And it matters for families: 56% of Village School students qualify for free and reduced lunches.
The kitchen's mission has only widened since. According to the school's website, the Village School now provides free meals to all students through the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision, with grab-and-go breakfast available before school or during morning snack time. No child has to wonder whether they can afford a good meal.
What's next
The kitchen has had to keep growing. When the school moved to a new building without a working kitchen, a fundraising campaign aimed to raise $120,000 to create a commercial kitchen so the Village Kitchen can keep cooking scratch meals for the children.
The takeaway is simple. A group of determined parents turned a budget cut into a program that feeds kids well, teaches healthy habits, and brings a community together around the table. If you'd like to learn more, the school's kitchen page at eugenevillageschool.org is a good place to start.