SCHOOL FOOD

HEALTHY MEALS BUILD HEALTHY MINDS

From its launch in 2007, the Orfalea Fund School Food Initiative brought a business-minded, entrepreneurial approach to school food reform.

Despite a growing understanding of the link between good nutrition and the ability to learn, many school districts feel bound by budgets and bureaucracy to stick with packaged, processed, heat-and-serve food. By changing the underlying structural premise from one of expediency to one of health and wellness, we and our partner organizations shifted not merely practices, but the attitudes behind them.

The Orfalea Fund and our partners in Santa Barbara County have shown that healthy, delicious, scratch-cooked food can be procured and prepared on time and on budget.

School Food: PROJECT BRIEFINGS

    Orfalea Fund School Food Initiative

  • $7,821,637 Total Giving
  • $6,509,663 Operational Costs
  • 9 Years of Programming
  • 50,561 students benefitting annually
  • $32 Per Child Annually

OUR EXPERIENCE SHOWED THAT ADULTS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS WANTED A CULTURE OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS ON CAMPUS, BUT NEEDED TRAINING, EQUIPMENT, AND PEER SUPPORT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.