Des Moines FoodCorps
Cause Area
- Children & Youth
- Community
- Environment
- Health & Medicine
Location
Suite 1101 206 6th AvenueDes Moines, IA 50309 United StatesOrganization Information
Mission Statement
FoodCorps is a nationwide team of leaders that connects kids to real food and helps them grow up healthy.
We do that by placing motivated leaders in limited-resource communities for a year of public service. Working under the direction of local partner organizations, we implement a three-ingredient recipe for healthy kids. Our Service Members:
Teach kids about what healthy food is and where it comes from Build and tend school gardens Bring high-quality local food into public school cafeterias 80 FoodCorps Service Members and 12 FoodCorps Fellows are out making a difference at 61 sites across 12 states. More than 1,000 emerging leaders applied for the positions, demonstrating remarkable skill, passion, and commitment in areas related to improving school food. Our MissionThrough the hands and minds of emerging leaders, FoodCorps strives to give all youth an enduring relationship with healthy food.
Our VisionWe envision a nation of well-nourished children: children who know what healthy food is, how it grows and where it comes from, and who have access to it every day. These children, having grown up in a healthy food environment, will learn better, live longer, and liberate their generation from diet-related disease.
We envision a bright future for our Service Members: emerging leaders who, having invested a year of public service creating healthy food environments for children, will go on to become farmers, chefs, educators and public health leaders. These visionaries, armed with the skills to improve school food, will improve all food.
Description
Des Moines (DSM) FoodCorps is currently serving the Des Moines Public School district through many different avenues. For nutrition education, we lead 5 after school cooking/gardening programs throughout the year and teach the Picka Bettter Snack program at 6 elementary schools. Schools gardens have increased dramatically in the district over the past two years. After this spring, there will be 21 gardens. The size of the gardens vary from a small container , to a 40X70 plot of land. DSM FoodCorps also supports local Iowa farmers by connecting them to the school food system. Last year, DSM FoodCorps partnered with district for the first ever farm to school pilot program for DMPS. For nine weeks, kids got to try local fruits and vegetables at 3 different summer feeding sites. Some of the fruits and veggies they tried were strawberries, carrots, blueberries, and tomatoes. Also, during National Farm to School Month, 4 schools got to try out local sweet potato fries from Table Top Farm.