John English J.M.S. Nutrition Program

Hi everyone,

It's been awhile since I've made a post or been an active presence on the site. I've been really busy with a project and I thought I would share some good news. For the past couple of months myself, as well as a few other key people (some of whom are FoodSpark members), have been working hard on starting a nutrition program for my children's school, John English J.M.S. We will start our pilot project by serving a healthy, buffet style lunch one day a week starting this Friday! Lunches will consist of a salad bar, a minimum of 5 raw vegetables, 3 raw fruits and an entree which will be a choice of either animal or vegetarian protein, and a source of whole grain. It will be offered to all students for either $3 per day or through a subsidy. We have wonderful facilities; a full kitchen, service area and cafeteria that hasn't been used for about 15 years as I hear it. We have spent many hours over the last weeks, cleaning, stocking and makng repairs so that we could have it inspected by public health in order to begin the program. We passed that inspection today! Our nutrition program will be volunteer run and headed by a nutrition program coordinator (which I am currently filling the role of). We will also work in partnership with FoodShare Toronto and Toronto Foundation for Student Success. We are absolutely thrilled to be able to start this Friday and plan on running lunches two days a week starting in Sept. Our goal is to have healthy lunches for our students every day of the week in the future. What an exciting time!