The Growth of Mount Shasta’s School CAFÉ

The young people at Mount Shasta Elementary and Sisson School have spoken, and their request for fresh changes to school lunches is being answered in Siskiyou County. The Culinary Action for Education program or School CAFÉ is bringing an innovative addition of salad bar carts to each campus this school year. Although neither school is equipped with a full kitchen, the salad bars are a great start to meeting student wishes for better food that feeds healthy minds and growing bodies.

School CAFÉ parent volunteer Colleen Shelly is excited about the new lunch option that will greet students this year. “Eating well affects our physical health and our mental and emotional health,” says Shelly. “I feel that we’re fortunate at Mount Shasta Union School District to have a very responsive superintendent in Barry Barnhart. He listens to the parents and students and takes action. He’s gone to great lengths to work out the logistics of adding salad bars to our lunchrooms.”

(l to r) Ella Rawitch, Neila Schwenke, Dean Shelly, Maya Rawitch are regulars at the Mount Shasta Farmer’s Market and student advocates for fresh food in the cafeteria.

School CAFÉ is an inspiring demonstration of what a group of committed students and citizens can do to change their world for the better. The program was created after Maya, then an eighth-grader at Sisson School presented a compelling report to the Mount Shasta Union School District’s Board of Trustees in December 2016. She represented the student population and proposed a basic plan for improving the taste, nutrition, and quality of school lunches. The Board quickly approved a School CAFÉ committee comprised of students, parents, Board Trustees, the Superintendent and school employees. At that time, all lunches were being prepared at a school kitchen in a neighboring town and couriered to the schools.

The Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center became the fiscal sponsor of this healthy food initiative, providing the infrastructure to manage project funds and accept donations. Each donation is credited to the School. Make a donation here.

CAFE program and funds are used to help pursue project goals like the salad bars. Funds also support activities that boost knowledge and mindfulness in students, parents, and educators about the benefits of a healthy diet and ways they can incorporate fresh, organic, additive-free foods into school and home meals. There’s even a long-term vision for building a full-use kitchen at one of the schools.

In 2018, students Maya and Ella went door-to-door in a fundraising effort that collected an amazing $10,000 for School CAFÉ. They met with most of the businesses in the Mount Shasta area, gaining unprecedented support from the community for bringing healthy food and nutrition education to the schools. In turn, School CAFÉ donated $8,500 to the district to purchase the new salad bars, and a commercial refrigerator and install a required prep sink. Recently, an anonymous donor generously gifted $5,000 to the effort. Shelly says these funds will help launch a nutrition education campaign to give students a hands-on cooking experience. Students at the elementary school are already learning about growing edibles and getting a taste for new things they see growing in the school’s vibrant garden.
Colleen Shelly loves School CAFÉ. She explains, “It is meant to nurture young people. If students are shown how to grow food, how to cook it, shop at farmer’s markets and read labels, they can make informed decisions. It’s empowering them to make healthy choices and take charge of the direction they want to go.”

Superintendent Barry Barnhart tips his hat to Butteville Elementary, the small rural school north of Weed, CA that provided the model for School CAFÉ. “They showed us how we could offer the new salad bars using our minimal kitchen set-up,” says Barnhart. “We’ve also stopped transporting our heat and serve meals from another school site, and our ability to heat them on-site will make them more appealing. As more students choose to buy school lunches, funds will be earned to help School CAFÉ pay for itself. As it grows, our aim is to expand our ability to serve wholesome organic foods and meals prepared from scratch.”

Student involvement remains an essential part of the program and the School CAFÉ Club at Sisson School is open to middle school students. Newcomers are encouraged to fill the shoes of Maya and Ella who have gone on to high school. This school year, high school students will also benefit from the program due to a new contract between Mount Shasta Union School District and Mount Shasta High. Fresh salads will be prepared, packaged, and delivered to the high school, a healthy choice that Maya and Ella are sure to approve.

Other school districts interested in developing similar projects can learn more about School CAFÉ and watch its progress by visiting the website at http://www.schoolcafeclub.org. Shelly suggests using online resources to study possible solutions. Some of her favorites are One Meal a Day, The Lunch Box, Center for Eco-literacy, and Edible School Yard. She says a good first step is having a conversation with the school district’s superintendent to get familiar with the schools’ limitations and consider how to best meet the schools’ unique needs. “Be prepared for the change to happen incrementally,” advises Shelly. “My kids may be out of high school by the time meals cooked from scratch are served in our cafeterias, but that’s okay; it’s worth it to me to stick with this effort to bring healthy changes to my community.”