By Carly Westling
FoodCorps NJ Fellow

Our ten FoodCorps New Jersey service members still have over a month left in their service terms, but the end of the school year marks a major landmark for each and every one of them. Amidst the end-of-school-year frenzy of final lessons, garden celebrations and planning for next year with teachers, our service members are also taking time to reflect on where they have been and how far they have come this year. From the growth they’ve seen in the student who at the beginning of the year refused to try any unfamiliar foods and are now munching on bok choy and encouraging other students to “just try it” to the growth they’ve seen in the teacher who at the beginning of the year was unsure whether she wanted her students out in the garden because they might track dirt back into the classroom, that teacher is now out there transplanting seedlings with her students. The growth they have seen also includes their own growth, whether it has been in their ability to successfully manage a classroom full of eight-year-olds or the insights they’ve gained into their personal passions.

There have been so many warm, fuzzy moments for each of them, and below you’ll find a highlight from each of their service terms thus far. However, we also want to acknowledge that it has not all been warm and fuzzy. There have certainly been challenges that they each have faced, obstacles that stood in their paths, and these challenges have been just as valuable as learning experiences, if not more so than the warm and fuzzies.

Becky Gendelman, United Way of Passaic County, Paterson, NJ

One of Becky’s biggest successes this year has been her success in getting the families of her preschoolers involved in her programming. She started the service term with a parent-child cooking class that sparked their enthusiasm, which she then harnessed into an active garden committee, culminating in May with a community garden build day.

The local news wrote an article about the event, saying: “The garden build was truly a community effort. The construction and installation of garden beds and plants was led by United Way of Passaic County’s FoodCorps service member and City Green staff, with an additional 14 parent and community volunteers.”

Rachel Terry, Philip’s Academy Charter School, Newark, NJ

One of Rachel’s big accomplishments this year has been setting up a “Recipe of the Month” program in which every class in the school makes one recipe that involves a highlighted fruit or vegetable. While the recipe is the same for everyone, each teacher is responsible for figuring out how to tie the recipe into his or her curriculum, and this process has been extremely successful in getting teachers to understand and buy into the value of food and garden-based education.

Rachel shared an example from when frittata was the Recipe of the Month: “The frittata lessons were so amazing! The math teacher, Ms. Ito, has been at Philip’s for 17 years and so has been a part of the evolution of EcoSPACES. After the lesson, she said she finally thinks she gets it! She took such initiative, came up with an amazing lesson and just seemed to really see the value of what edible education could look like. We are makings sushi with her students next week!”

Jamie Bruno, Greater Newark Conservancy, Newark, NJ

Much of Jamie’s service has been spent making inroads with Hawthorne Avenue School in Newark - the K through 8 school that is right across the street from the Greater Newark Conservancy’s two-acre Hawthorne Street Farm. One highlight of her service was when she finally started to feel the tide changing as the school began to rally around food and garden education and really start to pay attention.

Back in early spring, Jamie wrote: “I feel like I’m finally integrating into the school culture. Students came together to help me finish the school bulletin board and seem generally interested in my lessons and programs. My Eco Ambassadors had a FANTASTIC day outside exploring. It was a completely JOYOUS afternoon with them being outside and exploring the farm. When they found a pile of overwintered carrots that were still good to eat they danced with them and posed for pictures. It was a truly beautiful moment. We all felt it.”

Thalya Reyes, New Brunswick Community Farmers Market, New Brunswick, NJ

The highlight of Thalya’s service term has been her ability to connect with the New Brunswick community both in her service - teaching preschoolers and middle schoolers about healthy foods and seeing that knowledge take action when her students’ families visit the Saturday farmers’ market - as well as on her own time - working with the New Brunswick Community Food Alliance and volunteering with Elijah’s Promise, a local soup kitchen. Through the connections she has built not only has she been able to serve her community better, but she has also been able to learn more about her own interests and passions.

Thalya says: “Through my outreach with the New Brunswick community, I have learned more about issues in food security, food assistance, urban environment and health care. This has inspired me to continue service in New Brunswick and begin a Master’s in Public Policy at Rutgers University.”

Christina Heimann, Isles, Inc., Trenton, NJ

One of Christina’s big accomplishments this year has been working with the Master Gardeners in Trenton. The partnership began over the winter with the development of a series of lessons tied to garden or food related children’s books, and has continued throughout the spring with Master Gardeners volunteering to help with many of Christina’s lessons. Some of the Master Gardeners are even planning to take on some of the lessons on their own, greatly building the capacity of Isles’ programming to accommodate interested teachers. The Master Gardeners are excited to continue their involvement into the future.

Christina says: “The Master Gardeners were really pleased with the reading program we did this winter and have decided to give us $1,000 to do a more extensive program next year. I’m really excited about the support I’ve received from them and how much I’ve been able to build capacity by getting more Master Gardeners involved in schools throughout Trenton.”

Amy Jacobs, Center for Environmental Transformation, Camden, NJ

One of the highlights of Amy’s service has been the relationships she has built with teachers and students. She has felt extremely grateful for their openness and the appreciation they have shown her. She has especially been feeling their love as the school year comes to a close.

Amy says: “My students and teachers have been having really strong and sweet reactions when I tell them I am leaving. One of my teachers even said, ‘I feel like I am being broken up with and I don’t want anyone new!’ I had my fifth graders write reflections about their time in the gardens and many of them wrote about how their favorite memories were being with me. It is going to be difficult to leave them! Nothing could mean more than their kind words. This reflection was especially thoughtful and touching: ‘It was the best to learn about new things and to go to the garden and to just learn from Miss Amy and to talk about something that I never would know about. It was fun to talk to Miss Amy because she’s so nice and if you get something wrong and we didn’t know it she will help us out with it and give us great ideas. She will always help us with things we don’t know. She will let us try new things that we never tried.’”

Alexis Sangalang, New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids-Camden, Camden, NJ

The highlight of Alexis’s service has been coming to realize for herself that she can learn just as much from the time she spends with her students as they can learn from her.

Alexis says: “My students and I always end our planting session by saying, ‘Good luck seeds! We hope you grow!’. The other day, one of my kindergartners said to me, ‘Thank you! I hope you grow, Miss Alexis!’ It was such a nice thing for her to say, and while she probably didn’t mean it the way I took it, it definitely made me feel special. Teaching has taught me a lot about myself. I’ve learned that I don’t have to be the best teacher or gardener, and it’s okay if I’m not the most confident person in the room. My students will listen and enjoy the moments when we’re dancing like bugs or harvesting some swiss chard. Taking in these opportunities has offered me a chance to reflect and grow as a person.”

Brian Quilty, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County, Clayton, NJ

As a second year service member, Brian has had so many experiences teaching, gardening, harvesting, cooking, and tasting throughout Gloucester County it would be hard to encapsulate how much they have meant to him in one anecdote. His work with FoodCorps, though, has changed the course of his life by inspiring him to pursue a career as a teacher in the future.

Brian shared: “I am amazed everyday how receptive my schools are; and how students, staff, and families are all willing to try new things. Seeing students praise vegetables on a daily basis, and loving the recipes we made together has been incredible. Without a doubt, my time spent with FoodCorps has been the most inspiring and meaningful thing I have done in my life.”

Annalise VanVranken, Salem County Vocational Technical School, Woodstown, NJ

One of Anna’s highlights this year has been the positive feedback she’s gotten from her school communities about the impact of the programming she has been doing with students.

Anna shares some of their feedback, saying: “During the activity I was running at the Parents as Partners event at my preschool, a teacher shared that she receives such positive feedback and many emails from parents saying how much they love my lessons and how they make some of the recipes three times in a week. It was so nice to hear such great feedback. Also, the mother of one of my students said that her son loved when I came to class and always came home talking about my visit. She just had such kind words to say and was so happy to meet me and even told me that they started seeds at home the day before!”

Laura Pennington, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Salem and Gloucester Counties

One highlight of Laura’s service has been seeing the passion that the people in her community have to work toward making their place the best that it can be. Becoming a part of their community and working together with them to make their community healthier and happier has been so energizing for her and something that she will carry with her into the future.

Laura says: “Over this past year, my largest highlight was getting to know the grassroots community of Salem. I have met some wonderful people who truly care about their home and who are working hard to improve it. The initiative behind the community members was amazing to witness and positively my favorite aspect of service.”

The fourth and final 2014-15 school year “Kitchen Essentials” trainings took place at Union High School with Aramark Food Service Director Cale Petermann and his team in late May. Attendees listened to Janet Celi share information about cabbage, asparagus, carrots, kale, sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts and parsnips and then were placed into groups to tackle the recipes using these vegetables.

These trainings have been hosted for the past four years by the New Jersey Farm to School Network in collaboration with the NJ School Nutrition Association. Funding has been provided by the NJ Department of Health through the NJAHPERD (NJ Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance) as fiduciary agent.

Janet Celi, New Jersey Department of Agriculture Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Coordinator, has collaborated in these trainings with NJ Farm to School Network for the past two years to help school food service professionals find ways to incorporate more produce into school meals, a requirement of the 2010 Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act.

Thanks to everyone involved in these trainings and to the districts that hosted us this year, Millville, Jersey City, Elizabeth and Union.

By Jaime Lockwood, Development Director, National Farm to School Network
This article originally appeared in the National Farm to School Network’s blog titled “Passion, persistence, and patience in New Jersey”.

Social media can be a powerful tool for change by connecting people with similar passions and complementary talents. Tony Kowalak and Steve Vande Vrede are a perfect example of this. Tony is the Sodexo Food Service Director in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District of central New Jersey. Steve is a farmer at Edible Garden in Belvidere, New Jersey. The two met in 2013 while participating in New Jersey Farm to School Network’s “I Tweet for Food” campaign. Noticing each other’s tweets about the importance of getting locally grown food in schools, they formed a partnership that is now bearing fruit.

Over the past several years, Tony has been an internal advocate for sustainable practices within Sodexo, a company that provides food services to schools across the globe. Tony has also been a farm to school advocate, and has worked to establish farm to school programs across his home state of New Jersey. Through this work, he became familiar with a project in Rhode Island where local producers and food service companies worked collectively and intentionally to overcome distribution hurdles and help local produce find its way into schools across the state. Tony was fascinated by the idea and wondered how New Jersey schools could leverage similar partnerships, particularly in the winter when local fields are dormant and food must be imported. When he met Steve, who specializes in greenhouse growing and produces year-round, the two began investigating what it would take to get Steve’s lettuce into schools across New Jersey.

Initially, the task seemed daunting. There were distribution channels that needed to be tweaked, liability insurance that needed to be increased and pilot school sites developed. With the help of others, including Beth Feehan of the New Jersey Farm to School Network and our New Jersey State Lead, Edible Gardens won approval by Sodexo and their primary distributor, PFG, to start moving Steve’s lettuce into a handful of school districts. Beginning in January, lucky students in East Orange, Long Branch and West Windsor-Plainsboro school districts began eating lettuce grown within their state – in the dead of winter.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.