Governor John Hickenlooper has proclaimed Sept. 12, 2012, as Colorado Proud School Meal Day. This ninth annual event encourages schools to incorporate Colorado products in their meals to celebrate Colorado agriculture and to educate students about healthy eating. Its a day when schools all over Colorado will be celebrating Colorado agriculture and educating school kids about healthy eating.
School lunchrooms will try to use as much Colorado grown produce as possible today, and LiveWell Montezuma, and Mancos schools, will be part of it.
School districts across the state are incorporating more local ingredients into their menus, said Wendy White, marketing specialist for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Colorado Proud School Meal Day is the perfect opportunity to educate schoolchildren about the importance of agriculture and nutrition.
LiveWell Montezuma is helping Mancos schools have a successful Colorado Proud Day, and the local farms are pitching in some of their food.
The menu at Mancos will be hamburger and potatoes. There will also be tasting tables set aside for students to sample Kale chips and Kohorabi (vegetable) dip, according to Kim Lindgren, coordinator for LiveWell Montezuma. It is sponsored by the Montezuma School to Farm project coordinators Sarah Syverson, who is coordinator over all of Montezuma County, and Erin Bohm in Mancos. Posters telling of the benefits of healthy food and a slide show of the School to Farmfield trips will also be displayed in the school cafeteria.
Farmers and ranchers all across Colorado produce food items that provide the nutrients children and adults need to thrive. Agribusinesses contribute nearly $20 billion to the state economy annually and provide more than 105,000 jobs. With more than 37,000 farms and ranches encompassing 31 million acres, it is easy to understand the value this industry adds to Colorado.
For more information, go to www.coloradoproud.org.
