<h2>2021 VSBA Food for Thought Competition Entries</h2>
<a href="healthy-school-meals">Healthy School Meals</a>
<a>Meal Access to Fight Hunger</a>
<a>Wellness/Physical Activity</a>
<h3 id="healthy-school-meals">Healthy School Meals</h3>

<h4>Charlottesville City Public Schools:</h4>

Summer Food Service Program: We partnered with Cultivate Charlottesville and received and $500.000 grant. Some of the Grant will be used for a Youth-Led outreach campaign to provide nutritional information on school meals, Increased equipment to prepare and enhance access to fresh meals, and Increase from scratch meals. We participated in Harvest of the Month during the Pandemic. We Served fresh from scratch meals during Farm to School Week during the pandemic. When the schools reopened, we continued to serve meals in the community for the students doing virtual learning. This was difficult because all of our schools were open. Only with the help of Volunteers and a dedicated Nutrition staff was this possible.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Carlton Jones, jonesc1@charlottesvilleschools.org, 434-245-2830


<h4>Chesterfield County Public Schools:</h4>

Virginia Farm to School: Healthy Habits Take Root Early: Chesterfield County Public Schools partnered with Virginia’s Farm to School Program. CCPS F&amp;N continues to source and provide a variety of colorful fresh, local, and seasonally grown fruits and vegetables. In addition to being a very important component that satisfies the federal program requirements, it also supports the local food producers, their families, and our Virginia economy. CCPS F&amp;N partners with GoGreen Farms and Greenhouses, in Suffolk, VA. This food hub works collaboratively with the department’s registered dietitian and Virginia farms to provide local and fresh produce to schools. This year, students were offered Gala apples from Crown Orchard, Batesville; broccoli and sweet potatoes from Kirby Farms, Mechanicsville; hydroponic Lettuce from Fresh2o, Stevensburg; green beans from C and E Farms, Cheriton; and strawberries from Sunnyside Farms, Cumberland, VA. CCPS F&amp;N is participating in two grants and a sponsorship funding project that supports the Virginia Farm to School efforts. They include the USDA Farm to School State Agency Grant, the Team Nutrition Training Grant for School Meal Recipe Development, and the Virginia Department of Health $1,000 Sponsorship for School Wellness.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Roni LaPelle, roni_lapelle@ccpsnet.net, (804) 743-3717 x160



<h4>Fredericksburg City Public Schools:</h4>

Emergency Feeding/Summer Feeding: To effectively reach children during the summer months, we developed a “Mobile Feeding Program” back in 2014. It consisted of one food truck with the ability to distributing 350 – 400 fresh Hot and Cold Meal options each day {Monday – Friday} throughout the community. The program was not only sustainable each year but expanded to a second with the onset of the COVID crisis in March of 2020, we immediately went into “emergency feeding mode” to establish a plan to feed as many children as possible throughout the city since the schools would be closed indefinitely. On March 23, 2020, our feeding program began with a select group of LOW-RISK SNP employees and an army of volunteers numbering 150-200. All CDC and VDH safety measures were established and followed to the letter so that the risk of infection was kept at a minimum. In June 2020, a third mobile unit was added to the fleet in order to expand our footprint. The program ran continually from March 2020 – May 2021. The program will again start up on June 14, 2021, and continue through the summer. By setting up mobile routes covering 25 distribution locations and another 10 “grab &amp; Go” locations throughout the city, we were able to cover 80% of the city geographically. We were also identifying the other 20% of the city and supporting those areas with meal deliveries. This plan gave families many options for access to breakfast and lunch each day.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Brian Kiernan, bkiernan@cityschools.com, (540) 372-1130.



<h4>King and Queen County Public Schools:</h4>

Farm to Table: Central High School located in King and Queen Virginia has recently been focusing on student involvement in developing and sustaining a “Farm to Table “mindset within the student body. CTE partnering with Central’s cafeteria to produce a “Farm to Table” program allowing students to actively participate in the planning, cultivation, and harvesting of familiar crops and vegetables. King and Queen’s “Farm to Table” mindset recognizes the need to support student access to healthy food options. Opportunities to learn, explore, and experience sustaining and developing local gardens will teach learners resiliency, determination, as well as allowing learners to take ownership in something within the school system and community. Career and Technology Education classes at Central have partnered with the cafeteria, implementing hydroponic grow walls within the cafeteria and school. Using an open courtyard in the middle of our school we have been allowed to create raised gardens and areas for planting fresh vegetables and flowers. These collaborative spaces stimulate and encourage cross-curriculum education, as well as provide social environments for relationship building and social-emotional growth. Central would like to have students in CTE classes collaborate with agriculture, biology, environmental science, and the cafeteria to continue promoting collaboration and hands-on learning environments focused on producing healthy, strong, relevant members of society and food!
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Kyle Talbert, ktalbert@kqps.net, (804) 785-5981.


<h4>Waynesboro Public School:</h4>

Healthy School Meals During the Pandemic: Waynesboro School Nutrition has pushed to create a program that emphasizes the benefits of healthy school meals such as local farm-to-school fruits, vegetables, and local meats as part of a meal. Healthy recipes are used quite often. This benefits the lifestyle changes in our students where they choose the main entrée and fresh produce options made available. Waynesboro School Nutrition developed creative ways to procure food items. We used new equipment as a different way to prepare and distribute meals to the community. We scheduled personnel to prepare and package food into ready-to-serve containers and ready-to-distribute packages for our community families. We advertised schedules and locations to announce our curbside pickup locations, home deliveries, and bus stops to neighborhoods, the YMCA, and the Boys and Girls Club. With the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Summer Food Service Program, we have made it possible to ensure the Waynesboro Community for all children 18 and under to have access to free healthy breakfast and lunch six days a week. We purchased locally grown produce and meats. We’ve had representatives from local farms visit and hold taste tests with our students at each curbside location. Our locally grown fruits, vegetables, and meats are always incorporated into our menus. We purchased two Oliver packaging machines to be able to focus on properly packaged fresh and freezer meals. This had a big impact on our meal distribution, allowing for easier storage and delivery.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Tamera Coffey, tcoffey@waynesboro.k12.va.us, (540) 946-4600.ere

<h3 id="meal-access-to-fight-hunger">Meal Access to Fight Hunger</h3>

<h4>Arlington Public Schools:</h4>

Feeding Arlington 2020: When word came on March 13th that we would be shutting down in-person school we had to quickly come up with a game plan for getting meals to Arlington’s most needy families. By Monday, March 16th we opened distribution sites at two schools. We spent the weekend identifying trusted staff who were willing to work and developing safety protocols. We scrambled to make a menu and put together meals that could be packaged together to minimize staff contact with the public as well as balancing the strict USDA regulations. We worked with the communications office to create a media release to get the word out to families about meal site pickups and times. We used email, robocalls, and social media and the word got out. We soon realized that two sites were not enough and ended up opening a total of 32 sites by June 2020, including using 10 buses to serve non-school sites in densely populated areas.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Amy Maclosky, amy.maclosky@apsva.us, (703) 228-6133.

<h4>Caroline County Public Schools:</h4>

Caroline’s New Food Truck: With the Covid-19 emergency greatly impacting the Division’s ability to provide nutritious meals to our children we made a determined effort to develop a plan that would allow us to continue to reach the community. As part of our efforts, we decided that having the ability to offer “off-site” feeding would increase our reach and provided additional access to meals for those in need. Following this line of thought, we did some research on how other areas were handling this issue, thought outside of the box a bit, and made the decision to purchase a food truck. Use of the food truck allowed us to set up and offer meals to diverse groups around the county. This placed us closer to the children in need and by offering varied hours, we provided more families the much-needed access. The Food Truck was a major addition to the Division’s efforts to reduce childhood hunger during this crisis. By providing meals at additional locations and at varied times we were able to reach children and families that were not able to take advantage of our school-based curbside feeding program. A perfect example was our late feeding session. This session was held at a central location in the county, during the “evening rush” drive time. By targeting working families who could not access our breakfast or lunchtime slots we were able to distribute up to 600 additional meal units per week! Based on our student population we considered this a huge success.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Keith Conner, kconner@ccps.us, (804) 633-6732.

<h4>Carroll County Public Schools:</h4>

School Break Meals: For the first time in Carroll County the school district provided “Grocery Bag” meals for students over break, both Winter and Spring Break. All elementary students were each sent home on the day of winter and spring break a “grocery bag” of items to make enough breakfast and lunch meals for five days. The bags consisted of fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, an assortment of breakfast items, lunch meats, cheeses, assorted breads, peanut butter packets, chicken nuggets, etc. Students were given a sample menu of items they would make each day, or they could be creative and mix and match. Bags were also available to secondary students on a sign-up basis along with any families that had children 18 and under and our virtual families. We have been fortunate to be able to do this twice this year and are planning on sending a bag home with students on the last day of school to cover the time before summer session starts. Our local movie theater provided a free child’s movie ticket for each bag so the children could enjoy an extra treat.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Tammy Quesenberry, tquesenb@ccpsd.k12.va.us, (276) 730-3229.

<h4>Essex County Public Schools:</h4>

Feeding Our Children During the Covid Emergency: Essex is a rural county with a small student population spread over a large geographic area. At the onset of the Covid Emergency, with the children at home, the team came together to develop a plan to serve the children meals and help prevent hunger – which would negatively impact learning. The Food Service Department worked in conjunction with both transportation and instruction to ensure that the children’s nutritional needs would still be met. During these brainstorming sessions, it was determined that the popular curbside feeding would not reach enough of our students due to the large geographic area the student population was spread over. It was decided that delivery was needed. The food service department worked diligently with the transportation department to develop a “home delivery” model that would maximize the number of students served. The rollout was supported by all members of the Division. The program has been well received by the community. Households appreciated and enjoyed the meals. Over time, the number of households served remained relatively stable. The bus drivers stayed in communication with both foodservices and the households to ensure meals are going where needed and can make adjustments as calls come in. An additional benefit is that this program helps maintain the foodservice program.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> James Keith Conner, jconner@essex.k12.va.us, (804) 443-4366.

<h4>Fairfax County Public Schools:</h4>

Emergency Food Distribution: Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Office of Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) developed a successful emergency food distribution program that combined meal service options for in-person learning and community feeding by collaborating with Division Leadership. FNS proactively anticipated programmatic changes to be able to seamlessly phase in weekend meals, suppers, and snacks, and multiple methods for serving students as they returned to school buildings. FCPS planned ahead to be able to provide meals on all days when school would not be in session, not just during the school year, but the calendar year to include: breaks, holidays, teacher workdays, and times of inclement weather.  The emergency food distribution program helped reduce childhood hunger by serving approximately fourteen million combined meals and snacks since the start of school in September 2021. No-cost breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and snacks were made available to students and households to cover seven days per week. FNS ensured multiple pick-up options were available to households to best meet the needs of students and the community. Examples of this are daily Grab &amp; Go meals that were made available on as many as eighty school buses and at fifty sites; and bulk ‘Fairfax Meal Kits’ that were developed to provide households with the opportunity to pick up meals for a full week at more than seventy sites. Additionally, as students returned to in-person instruction, FNS worked with as many as 107 schools to be able to return to hot lunch offerings and delivered meals directly to classrooms at a majority of our 142 elementary schools. Staff strived to meet the unique service challenges at each site while maintaining the community food distribution program.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Maria Perrone, MCPerrone@fcps.edu, (703) 813-4800.

<h4>Fredericksburg City Public Schools:</h4>

Emergency Feeding/Summer Feeding: To effectively reach children during the summer months, we developed a “Mobile Feeding Program” back in 2014. It consisted of one food truck with the ability to distribute 350 – 400 fresh Hot and Cold Meal options each day {Monday – Friday} throughout the community. The program was not only sustainable each year, but expanded to a second With the onset of the COVID crisis in March of 2020, we immediately went into “emergency feeding mode” to establish a plan to feed as many children as possible throughout the city since the schools would be closed indefinitely. On March 23, 2020, our feeding program began with a select group of LOW-RISK SNP employees and an army of volunteers numbering 150-200. All CDC and VDH safety measures were established and followed to the letter so that the risk of infection was kept at a minimum. In June 2020, a third mobile truck was added to the fleet in order to expand our footprint. The program ran continually from March 2020 – May 2021 (end of the school year). The program will again start up on June 14, 2021, and continue through the summer. By setting up mobile routes covering 25 distribution locations and another 10 “grab &amp; Go” locations throughout the city, we were able to cover 80% of the city geographically. We were also identifying the other 20% of the city and supporting those areas with meal deliveries. This plan gave families many options for access to breakfast and lunch each day. Since we have always put a priority on using the freshest ingredients available, that has not changed even with the “packaging” requirements due to COVID restrictions. Prepackaged meals are not something we offer. We focus our practices on multiple options daily, both hot and cold, including fresh salads, vegetarian items, and gluten-free options.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Brian Kiernan, bkiernan@cityschools.com, (540) 372-1130.

<strong>Gloucester County Public Schools:</strong>

WTF…”Where’s the Food?”: Our Superintendent encouraged our Food Service Department to come up with a plan to ensure that its students had every opportunity to have access to nutritious meals during our all-virtual learning sessions. Our first step was to assemble a team of dedicated staff to take this task on. We quickly realized that delivering meals on our buses would be the most effective way to potentially reach the biggest student population. So began our partnership with our Transportation Department. From that partnership, plans were laid out on how to best communicate to our community about meal deliveries, how best to sign up, assemble meals, bag meals, keep meals at good temperatures, how many coolers would be needed, loading buses, how many buses would be needed, the most effective bus routes, and proper meal counting just to name a few. The first few weeks were all about being flexible, communicating with each other daily with briefings on what went wrong &amp; what went right, and having the persistence and grit to fine-tune the program BUT most importantly to HAVE FUN! Not only did it help our students to experience a little normalcy to see the school bus and familiar faces, but it helped to keep the presence of the School Meals in our students’ daily lives. While nourishing their spirits with the meal deliveries we also nourished their bodies daily with delicious, nutritious, quality meals that included fresh fruit and vegetables.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Christy Lindberg, christy.llindberg@gc.k12.va.us, (804) 693-3585.

<h4>Goochland County Public Schools:</h4>

Sunshine Food Bus: This project began as a partnership between Nutrition Services and our CTE department. We were given the opportunity to outfit a school bus that no longer transported students, into a mobile food unit. The architectural design students did diagrams for the placement of the foodservice equipment inside the bus, the woodworking students built the cabinetry and countertops. The graphic arts students created the lettering for the bus and made large logos of our community sponsors. We hosted a district-wide contest to find a name for our food truck. The winner was a 4th grader at one of our elementary schools with “Sunshine Food Bus”. Through generous donations and grant opportunities, the Sunshine Food Bus was outfitted with refrigeration, hot holding equipment, sinks, a food truck window and shelf, air conditioning, a new paint job, an awning, and a sound system complete with P.A. capability for announcements. The Sunshine Food Bus has provided summer meal access to fight hunger over the past 3 years. But it has never been so important to meet this need as during the pandemic and closure of schools. The school cafeteria employees have continued to step up to the front lines to feed children who need safe, healthy accessible meals. In addition to the curbside meals provided at every school site, the Sunshine Food Bus was able to reach children in outlying areas that may otherwise have had to go without nutritious school meals every day.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Lisa Landrum, llandrum@glnd.k12.va.us, (804) 556-5604.

<h4>Harrisonburg City Public Schools:</h4>

Weekly Meal Deliveries via Car Routes: When a decision was made to remain primarily virtual at the start of the 20-21 school year, we recognized that we needed to take our bulk meal pick-up a step further by offering delivery of meals to families who lacked transportation to an evening meal pick-up site. A survey was sent to families last summer asking them to sign up for either meal pick-up or delivery. Delivery addresses were sent to our transportation department who set up 14 delivery routes for us. Wednesday was our full virtual day, and so cafeteria staff at our two largest schools prepped a total of 500 meal bags for delivery. These were delivered directly to doorsteps by a team of school nutrition staff, other school staff, and volunteers. Each bag was time stamped for food safety and included meal prep instructions. Other school-based information was communicated to families through flyers included in meal bags. During a normal year, close to 80% of our students eat breakfast and lunch at school. While our numbers at evening pick-ups were good, they were still lower than our typical average daily participation. By bringing meals directly to families each week, we were able to serve an additional 500 students.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Andrea Early, aearly@harrisonburg.k12.va.us, (540) 437-3317.

<h4>Henrico County Public Schools:</h4>

Weekly Meal Deliveries via Car Routes: Since March 17, 2020, Henrico County School Nutrition Services (SNS) provided over four million meals to the community, via curbside pickup and bus route delivery. SNS also partnered with the Office of Equity and Diversity and the Family and Community Engagement Department to offer supplemental nutrition support during the pandemic. This partnership offered weekend food distribution to high-risk areas as well as grocery gift cards. Henrico County Public Schools created a comprehensive plan to provide meals division-wide. Both curbside and bus route meal service locations were determined based on equity and anticipated program participation.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Dana K. Whitney, dkwhitney@henrico.k12.va.us, (480) 239-9933.

<h4>King William County Public Schools:</h4>

KW School Nutrition Program: Our School Nutrition Department quickly shifted gears to be able to provide healthy school meals to children, when forced to close due to the pandemic. School Buses were utilized to transport meals to 5 different sites (church parking lots) within the county. School Nutrition Staff were at each location, distributing meals to all those that came to pick them up. School Nutrition Staff would meet throughout the week to prep and bag unitized meals for distribution. Once school started in the fall, we once again shifted gears. We would now provide meals to our Hybrid students on-site, but we would also provide weekly meal bags for our 100% Virtual students and other children 18 years and younger. Weekly meal bags were distributed each Friday at 2 sites within the district for the majority of the school year. School Nutrition Staff would work each Friday prepping items for the meal bags and assembling the meal bags for the following Friday distribution. Students attending school on-site were given the opportunity to take meal bags home for the days they were virtually learning, and for weekends and holidays.
<strong>Division Contact: </strong>Sherri Harris, shharris@kwcps.k12.va.us, (804) 769-3434 ext. 550.

<h4>King and Queen County Public Schools:</h4>

King and Queen Elementary Delivers: King &amp; Queen Elementary School staff always rises above and completes any tasks necessary for the success of our students. The past year has been no different. Our bus drivers and cafeteria staff have made sure that our students had meals throughout the pandemic. Once everything shut down last March, our cafeteria staff made sure that they were still available to distribute food for families in a drive-up format. Once staff were able to go out into the county, the bus drivers, and some car drivers loaded up their buses and drove their routes, stopping for any students and parents along the way. When we were able to return to school in the fall, they did not stop! The cafeteria crew delivered breakfast and lunch to each classroom every single day. On Wednesdays, when we had no students in the school, the cafeteria staff and bus drivers were once again delivering and allowing for pick up at the school, even for our virtual students! On Tuesdays and Fridays, any student who needed it was able to grab meals for the rest of the week, or weekend. Our cafeteria staff and drivers are amazing heroes this year. They have made sure to help fight hunger by giving all students access to meals. Through this program, King &amp; Queen Elementary was able to offer our students meals throughout the pandemic. We made sure that if a student needed a meal, they got it. Hybrid students were able to take food home with them on their last day of school for the week. In addition, no student, virtual or hybrid, had to pay for a meal at all this year. Our students were able to know that they would get food no matter what.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Shante’ Harvey, sharvey@kqps.net, (804) 785-5830.

<h4>Loudoun County Public Schools:</h4>

Serving Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, and Snacks to Children 18 Years and Younger: As the third-largest school district in the Commonwealth of Virginia, our School Nutrition Services (SNS) division was on the front lines to support students and their families from the onset of the pandemic. Schools closed on Thursday, March 13th and our staff began serving students the next day, Friday, March 14th. These heroes have not looked back since the pandemic began, serving nutritious, safe meals to all LCPS students. SNS staff continued to serve meals out of all school sites even as academic instructions and school buildings were closed. During late March, when families were required to stay at home, due to the severity of the infection, SNS staff were still serving four nutritious, healthy meals daily – Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, and Snacks. These meals have been served throughout the pandemic to on-site and walk-up customers. All staff adhered to strict COVID-19 mitigations protocols and nutrition standards while navigating student food allergies, following numerous federal, state, and local regulations to ensure safe and healthy meals are available to the young scholars of Loudoun County. SNS staff offer the best customer service in the biggest restaurant in the county with a smile. In collaboration with the Transportation Services staff, we stock 57 buses that deliver unitized meals at 236 stops throughout Loudoun County. This along with our walkup meal service sites for Virtual learners and Hybrid on-campus meal service ensured adequate access for all students no matter their economic background or learning mode. Meal service times and pick-up locations for bus-delivered meals are posted on the LCPS’s website for the convenience of parents and students. The app “Here Comes the Bus “alerts patrons when their bus is approaching. The LCPS Transportation Services website features an interactive map that helps families identify the nearest stop for food pick-up at a location convenient to their homes. As a result of the USDA waiver allowing parent pick up of student meals, parents have picked up meals for their children during meal service hours. The USDA waiver allowing non-congregate meal service has enabled parents to pick up multiple days of meals at one time for their children 18 years of age and younger.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Sharon Willoughby, Sharonwillocpsughby@lcps.org, (571) 252-1400.

<h4>Louisa County Public Schools:</h4>

LCPS Meals Program: It’s no secret that when the COVID-19 pandemic began radically impacting the country in March 2020, it significantly increased the level of food insecurity in counties across America. In Louisa County, where approximately 56% of students qualify for Free or Reduced school meals, the impact was especially troubling. That’s where the Louisa County Public Schools Nutrition team stepped up. By tremendously bolstering the various facets of the school division’s LCPS Meals programs, the LCPS Nutrition team was able to significantly increase the number of meals served during the 2020-2021 school year, as well as expand meal access opportunities for all youth in Louisa County! LCPS Nutrition dedicated its expansion efforts to mainly two areas of its LCPS Meals program: In-school meals, provided to Louisa County Public Schools students. Out-of-school meals were provided for all individuals ages 2-18 as part of the LCPS Community Meals initiative. Heading into the 2020-2021 school year, the LCPS Nutrition team did a complete review of all practices and came up with new, revised procedures that allowed the program to serve 48% more meals than the year before (more on those numbers later!) This was made possible thanks to a USDA waiver that allowed meals to be provided for free, as well as the unwavering dedication of our LCPS Nutrition team members!
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Andrew Woolfolk, woolfoal@lcps.k12.va.us, (540) 872-1080.

<h4>Manassas County Public Schools:</h4>

Weekly Grocery Kit Curbside Distribution: The mission of PWCS’s Office of School Food and Nutrition Services was and continues to remain the same: to “provide enjoyable, wholesome, high quality, nutritious meals” to as many students as possible. The pandemic brought with it an additional barrier to fulfilling that mission, as students were no longer physically present in our school buildings. The loss of jobs and income in our community led to an increase in need as well. Our mission was now more important than ever. Before us, however, were numerous challenges and new operational paradigms that demanded creative resolve. After running various pilot programs and making adjustments that could scale, we redesigned the Summer Food Service Program menu pattern, changing it from a unitized boxed meal style service to a weekly Grocery Kit that includes 7-days’ worth of breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and snacks for each child. This led to an increase in the number of meals served and reduced food insecurity in our community. To conceptualize this program, our leadership team and Area Managers met as soon as the school closings were announced. A curbside style system at multiple locations was identified as our best option to maintain safety and reach as many students as possible. Schools that would serve as pick-up locations were carefully chosen based on criteria such as population density, walkability/driving distances, and need. Our program has been a huge success, and we are continuing our Grocery Kit program in the current hybrid learning environment. The Weekly Grocery Kit program helped reduce childhood hunger by providing meals to hungry kids and helping to support families during the pandemic. According to a report published by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service on January 2021, 22.5 million children participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Prior to the pandemic, 43% of the student population in PWCS were eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals. These students count on having consistent access to wholesome meals at our schools, and for some, the meals provided in our cafeterias are the only meals they will eat all day.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Adam Russo, RUSSOAT@pwcs.edu, (703) 791-7314.

<h4>Norfolk Public Schools:</h4>

Anti-Hunger Safety Net: During the school year, Norfolk Public Schools participates in four federal school nutrition programs including National School Breakfast (NSBP), National School Lunch (NSLP), the At-Risk Child &amp; Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP), and Fresh Fruit &amp; Vegetable Program (FFVP). All Norfolk Public Schools students are eligible to receive free meals as part of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which is district-wide. Breakfast in the Classroom and Breakfast After the Bell are encouraged. In addition to addressing hunger, our schools highlight the cultural, scientific, and economic aspects of food and agriculture through our Farm to School program. With our partner, FeastVA, School Nutrition distributes recipes and educational materials using the Harvest of the Month fruit or vegetable at all fifty-one schools. The department has recently added a hydroponic microgreen garden that not only contributes ingredients to the meals but will also in the future serve as an educational opportunity for students and can be tied directly to Standards of Learning. Norfolk Public Schools is one of the largest sponsors of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) in the state. Each year, during the summer academic break, free breakfast and lunch for children are available not only in schools, but also in public libraries, recreation centers, and summer camps. A mobile kitchen (food truck) is being built, with the goal of providing meals and nutrition education to areas of Norfolk identified as food deserts. Norfolk Public Schools Culinary students are provided opportunities for employment and internships which will include food truck experiences.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Lisa M. Winter, lwinter@nps.k12.va.us, (757) 628-2760.

<h4>Northumberland County Schools:</h4>

Summer Food Service Program: Meals on Wheels: The evening of March 13, 2020, I received a call from Dr. Wargo, our superintendent, asking what we could do to make sure that children would have access to meals. I applied for the summer food program and waivers that allowed us to deliver meals. Our Superintendent contacted the Director of Transportation and together we put a plan in place to get meals out to the children of our county. At a time when families were struggling and could not work everyone came together to pack meals and deliver them to homes. As a community, we had ensured that children in our county had nutritious meals. Our program started on March 17, 2020. In 10 days, we were able to deliver 12,062 meals to homes. Families could not leave their homes and many could not work which meant no money coming in. With the stresses that the families had to endure we wanted to make sure that they did not have to worry about their children going hungry. The gratitude and love that we felt seeing the children as the meals were delivered will never be forgotten. Over a year later we are still delivering meals to homes. We are not just a school division, we are a community.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Saunee Hamlett, shamlett@nucps.net, (804) 580-8032 ext. 1008.

<h4>Petersburg City Public Schools:</h4>

Covid Feeding: We had to change our serving model several times to find out which model worked best in providing our students meals. At the beginning of the school year, we had meal pickups at several sites, however, our numbers were low, and we knew that many of our students who were in need of meals were not receiving them. So we re-evaluated our process and decided that the best way to get meals to our students was to deliver them out in the community. We started with 17 delivery sites and eventually worked up to 84 delivery sites. Those in transportation and security teamed up with the school nutrition department to get meals out to our community of students. When some students went back to school in March, we changed our model again. Providing meals to students in school and dinner/snack options for those in-person students to take home and in addition, providing the opportunity for those students still learning virtually to pick up breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack meals. By increasing the number of sites, we were able to reach many more children and get nutritious meals into their hands. We also began distributing dinners and snacks for all 7 days of the week to ensure that students did not go hungry during dinner or weekend times. Many of our students reside in hotels, which have no way of cooking or holding large amounts of foods, so this gave them a way to have meals without having to spend their limited income on meals from alternative sites. We continued providing meals to those students who opted to remain virtual learners when students were able to return to the classrooms in March.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Sandra Stokes, sastokes@petersburg.k12.va.us, (804) 861-4806.

<h4>Prince William County Public Schools:</h4>

Weekly Grocery Kit Curbside Distribution: The mission of PWCS’s Office of School Food and Nutrition Services was and continues to remain the same: to “provide enjoyable, wholesome, high quality, nutritious meals” to as many students as possible. The pandemic brought with it an additional barrier to fulfilling that mission, as students were no longer physically present in our school buildings. The loss of jobs and income in our community led to an increase in need as well. Our mission was now more important than ever. Before us, however, were numerous challenges and new operational paradigms that demanded creative resolve. After running various pilot programs and making adjustments that could scale, we redesigned the Summer Food Service Program menu pattern, changing it from a unitized boxed meal style service to a weekly Grocery Kit that includes 7-days’ worth of breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and snacks for each child. This led to an increase in the number of meals served and reduced food insecurity in our community. To conceptualize this program, our leadership team and Area Managers met as soon as the school closings were announced. A curbside style system at multiple locations was identified as our best option to maintain safety and reach as many students as possible. Schools that would serve as pick-up locations were carefully chosen based on criteria such as population density, walkability/driving distances, and need. Our program has been a huge success, and we are continuing our Grocery Kit program in the current hybrid learning environment.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Adam Russo, RUSSOAT@pwcs.edu, (703) 791-7314.

<h4>Radford City Public Schools:</h4>

SFSP Pandemic Meal Distribution/Bobcat Backpack Program/Radford Daily Bread: The Radford City Public Schools, School Nutrition Program, Bobcat Backpack Program, and the Radford Daily Bread formed a fantastic partnership during the 2020-2021 school year as we faced the COVID Pandemic. We utilized all bus routes that would enable us to provide healthy and nutritious meals for all virtual and hybrid children in the Radford City Community. The Radford Daily Bread focused on providing weekly nonperishable food boxes for the adults in the households. The Bobcat Backpack Program provided non-perishable ready-to-eat food for the weekend. Many families have been in desperate need of food over the last year. The student meals served during the school week, the backpacks food for the weekend, and the food boxes for adults provide a very needed and important service when food insecurity hit an all-time high in our community and across the nation. The children loved and richly benefited from the weekly meals provided to them, along with the adult meals provided by the Radford Daily Bread. The interaction with both the staff and the bus drivers really provided a since normalcy to very scary and uncertain times for all of our children. Our ultimate goal remains the same to provide food to those in need.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Connie P. Wood, cwood@rcps.org, (540) 267-3229.

<h4>Richmond Public Schools:</h4>

RPS Mobile Meal Distribution: To create the mobile meal distribution program, we reverse-engineered our normal student transportation and school nutrition operations to deliver school prepared meals directly to students in their neighborhoods via our school bus route network. In addition to the mobile meal delivery at student bus stops in neighborhoods, we selected several schools strategically located as meal distribution centers and walk-up meal pickup sites. This district-wide effort involved several departmental teams including Pupil Transportation, School Nutrition Services, School Leaders, Safety and Security, Community Engagement teams and Volunteers. During the regular school year, full-time staff provided the core staffing; during summer months, we leveraged volunteer and partner support to provide much of the meal preparation and distribution labor – overall. Hundreds of volunteers and organizations provided more than 5,000 hours of service! RPS mobile meal distribution program helped to reduce childhood hunger in Richmond City and surrounding areas because many, if not all, schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the students in the Richmond metro area rely heavily on our schools for daily nutritious meals and tee mobile meal distribution program met this urgent food insecurity need by providing timely, nutritious breakfast and lunch meals daily throughout the pandemic.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Alana Gonzalez, agonzalez@rvaschools.net, (804) 489-8385.

<h4>Roanoke City Public Schools:</h4>

Pandemic Response: Roanoke City School Board members prioritized meal access throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Roanoke City School Board members collaborated with administrators to ensure children had access to nutritious meals by running over 55 bus routes throughout the district and by offering 10 weekly pick-up locations with extended pick-up times, including evenings. By using these various meal distribution approaches Roanoke City Public Schools was able to serve over 2.9 million meals to children from March 17, 2020, through May 31, 2021. Roanoke City Public Schools is a division-wide Community Eligibility Provision participant. All Roanoke City Public School students receive free breakfast and free lunch. Many families in our community do not have the resources available to support the needs of hungry, growing children. Throughout the global crisis, the need to ensure our children had access to meals became greater than ever before. The 2020-2021 school year was the least predictable school year that anyone has ever experienced. RCPS pivoted several times throughout the pandemic to increase outreach to children who may be hungry. The division collaborated with SodexoMAGIC and Durham transportation to prepare and deliver meals by bus routes throughout the city during the first nine weeks. At this time a majority of students attended school virtually. In addition, families could attend curbside distribution and pick-up breakfast and lunch meals for multiple days. By November, as the instruction model transitioned to a hybrid model, food distribution transitioned to weekly curbside pick-up. RCPS worked with our foodservice management team to offer breakfast, lunch, snack, and supper meals for the week to be picked up every Friday. The offering also included meals for weekends. To increase meal access to families RCPS expanded from 4 to 10 pick-up locations and pick-up times from 11 AM-12 noon to 10 AM-6 PM.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Ellen Craddock, ecraddock@rcps.info, (540) 853-2863.

<h4>Roanoke County Public Schools:</h4>

Meals for Kids: Roanoke County Public Schools responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by developing multiple accessibility platforms to ensure healthy school meals were available to students after schools closed. The project began with the nutrition, transportation and administrative departments teaming up to create a system to deliver meals to students along their normal bus routes. A hotline was created to help support families during the crisis. This program began on March 16, 2020, the first day of school closures. The program evolved to develop curbside pickup locations to ensure meal access continued throughout the summer of 2020. When students returned to school in the fall of 2020, the program again evolved to feed students learning from a variety of platforms. For hybrid learners, meals were delivered to classrooms and sent home for virtual learning days. Virtual learners were offered curbside pickup of breakfasts and lunches for the week. Heading into the summer of 2021, the program will continue feeding students in summer school programs and offering curbside pickup for students on break. Food insecurity became a critical need as schools closed in March 2020. School meals are a reliable way to ensure healthy meal access for children in a community. With the pandemic causing economic insecurity and uncertainty, parents discovered a greater need for meal assistance. By seamlessly continuing meal access and using USDA waivers, RCPS has fed children at no cost to families since the pandemic began. The result has been a reliable source of nutrition for the community’s children that will continue through the 2021-2022 school year.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Rhonda Huffman, rhuffman@rcps.us, (540) 562-3900 ext. 10210.

<h4>Shenandoah County Public Schools:</h4>

Summer Feeding Program Community Partnership: Ms. Beverly Polk, Supervisor of Food Services for Shenandoah County Public Schools (SCPS), and her team of food service staff, provided free breakfast and lunch to any child 18 and under through the USDA Summer Feeding Program beginning in March 2020, when schools were closed due to the pandemic. When the 2020-21 school year began, rather than revert to the School Lunch Program, Ms. Polk applied and was accepted to continue the Summer Feeding Program throughout the winter months, which allowed her team to continue serving meals to students and children in the community at no charge. Meals were available for pick-up at the three middle schools in Shenandoah County. These schools are equipped with loading docks, allowing physical distancing to be maintained during pick-up. Meals were delivered to consolidated stops throughout the community by the SCPS transportation department. For families who had no way to get to the schools or to consolidated stops, SCPS partnered with community volunteers, many of whom were members of the Shenandoah County Education Association, to deliver food to families. SCPS partnered with Luke’s Backpack, an organization that hands out food to students for weekend meals. Shenandoah County Public Schools also worked with local childcare facilities to provide food for students, including Pollywog Place in Woodstock and Strasburg when they were without a cook due to the pandemic, Charterhouse School in Edinburg, Head Start in Woodstock, Wakeman’s Grove Church Learning Center, and South Ox Church Learning Center. Recently, SCPS has partnered with Yvonne Frazier, Healthy Families program manager for Shenandoah and Page counties. Healthy Families was awarded a grant to support volunteers who deliver food to rural, low-income families with children under age 5 who are experiencing food insecurity.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Beverly Polk, bspolk@shenandoah.k12.va.us, (540) 459-6721.

<h4>Stafford County Public Schools:</h4>

Summer Feeding Program Community Partnership: The Stafford County Public Schools (SCPS) Nutrition team implemented a strategic and multifaceted meal distribution plan to ensure equity and access for all students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan more importantly removed barriers to access nutritious meals. In collaboration with the district’s Transportation, Communications, and Demographic Planning departments, School Nutrition provided bus distribution and curbside meal pickup service. School buses delivered meals within walking distance to underserved communities. In addition, the school curbside service opened for morning and evening meal pick up. The evening curbside service was extremely popular with working families who were able to obtain meals as late as 6:30 PM. The Stafford County Public Schools meal distribution service provided healthy school meals throughout the county, especially to our most needy and remote communities. Meals were delivered three days a week and included 6 breakfasts and 6 lunches weekly. Families received “ready to prepare” menu items and a variety of fresh whole fruits and vegetables such as fresh yellow squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and Russet baking potatoes. To encourage student participation, hot meals were made available three days a week at all school curbside locations throughout summer 2020. These combined efforts resulted in increased student well-being, increased customer satisfaction, and a reduction in childhood hunger in the county.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Brian Williams, williamsbk@staffordschools.net, (540) 654-9040.

<h4>Staunton City Schools:</h4>

“Highlanders for Hope”: This program began many years ago as a team of staff that would gather annually and participate in our local Relay for Life. After about 8 years, our group decided that we absolutely wanted to continue to support our community but on a more personal level, having control over where our money and efforts were dispersed. We agreed that we wanted to concentrate our efforts to support our students and their families as well as our staff and families. We are most definitely a family here at Shelburne M.S.! We began to collect food items from staff that were stored in a closet and then expanded to a large, shelved pantry that also houses clothing, shoes, and jackets! We have had many fundraisers along the way to include providing lunch for staff, bake sales, homemade Christmas ornaments, selling passes for staff to wear blue jeans (most popular!), and many more! We also have had several churches partner with us to provide monetary support as well as contributing food and hygiene items for the pantry. We provide dry goods, groceries, and hygiene items to our students on a weekly basis. During the pandemic, we reached out to the community at large by being mobile by taking those groceries literally out into the community! We followed the lead of our division food service staff and made groceries available at different pick-up sites throughout the city. Some days the lines were long, and the recipients of the grocery bags were most grateful! We also collected items from staff to make special meal bags for Thanksgiving and Christmas for 25 of our most needy families! Members of our team and administrators delivered these bags personally to our students and their families!
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Terry Barrett, tbarrett@staunton.k12.va.us, (540) 332-3930.

<h4>Suffolk Public Schools:</h4>

Nourishing our Neighbors: The Suffolk Public Schools Nutritional Services Department partnered with the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore. Community partnerships allowed us to provide fresh produce to 400+ families monthly as well as helped us reach out to our Suffolk Public School families and staff to ensure we were here to help during the pandemic. “Nourishing Our Neighbors” is an initiative created to assist those children by supplementing pre-existing food programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have had the opportunity to pass out 16-pound boxes of a variety of produce in addition to fresh pineapple, strawberries, potatoes, melons, and much more. Through Nourishing Our Neighbors, the Foodbank distributes an assortment of fresh produce and healthy foods, as well as nutrition education resources, targeting families with children in communities where food insecurity is greater than 15 percent and where the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price. Children need access to healthy food rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains to grow and thrive. Our goal is to reach as many families as possible, we were awarded a grant from No Kid Hungry which will allow us to provide resources through our new food truck, one of our action items to get take Nourishing our Neighbors resources and go to locations around the city a few times a month in addition to the monthly distribution. We hope this will continue to help families in need in our community.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Dr. Lawrence Whiting, lawrencewhiting@spsk12.net, (757) 925-5789.

<h4>Virginia Beach City Public Schools:</h4>

VBScratch Food Truck and Bus Meal Distribution: Virginia Beach City Public Schools division encouraged the Office of Food Services to collaborate with the Office of Transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic to reach underserved areas in our community. We started the program as a multifaceted approach with buses servicing areas offsite as well as food distribution with our Food Services mobile truck. We transitioned from the service we were providing before the pandemic, to a fully virtual model. We have continually adapted to modes of service throughout the year to reach more students and reduce childhood hunger. Throughout the beginning of the pandemic many of us remember the flexibility needed to deal not only with everyday life but changing the way we thought about learning and feeding students. With the model of virtual feeding and collaboration with the Office of Transportation, we were able to reach students and families that had many barriers to healthy nutrition. We also pivoted to using DOD fresh produce items and creating freshly made sides that totaled about 7000 servings a week for delivery to the schools with our Food Services mobile truck. Since the beginning of the pandemic, March of 2020 to May of 2021 we at Virginia Beach City Public Schools Office of Food Services have served over 7 million meals while there have been school closures and virtual learning. The addition of 5 neighborhood offsite locations with the help of Transportation encouraged more outreach to reduce childhood hunger and provide healthy school meals to all district students. As schools have moved to in-person sessions as well as virtual learning with mitigation the program has been flexible in their feeding formats reaching more students each day. We have focused on pushing our scratch program, which encourages healthy meals to schools during the year, as well as adding new schools to have a total of 22 schools producing scratch meals. Counselors have stepped up in assisting with the issue of transportation throughout the year with home delivery to students in need. The silver lining of this pandemic is the preparation that we have now for the future if any type of event occurs. The encouragement and collaboration have only made it more effective in reducing childhood hunger.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Dr. Rachel Amato, rachel.amato@vbschools.com, (757) 839-3863.

<h4>Washington County Virginia Schools:</h4>

Summer Food Service Program: The Washington County School District, Child’s Nutrition Program has been operating under the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) since March 22, 2020 due to Covid-19 Pandemic. Operating under the SFSP Program, the Washington County School District offers breakfast and lunch at no cost to children 18 years and under. When schools first closed due to the pandemic, our district distributed meals via school bus routes and curbside pickup at all schools and a Community Children’s Daycare for vital workers. During the summer months and into the new school year, meal distribution continued at schools and local libraries. When students returned to school in October of 2020, we continued to operate under the SFSP Program serving meals to hybrid students, virtual students, and children 18 years and under. Meal distribution continued under the SFSP Program as our district transitioned between virtual and hybrid schedules. We have ended this school year and now continue into the summer operating under the SFSP Program offering breakfast and lunch to all children 18 years and under. The Washington County School District is committed to the well-being of the children in our community. Since the start of the pandemic and throughout this school year, we have offer meal distribution at all school sites and other locations to children 18 years and under. Our mission is to ensure that all children in our community have equal access to healthy meals with the purpose of reducing childhood hunger.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Valerie Cupp, vcupp@wcs.k12.va.us, (276) 739-3074.

<h4>Williamsburg-James City County Schools:</h4>

Grab-and-Go: Child Nutrition Services determined that the needs of students and families in the communities would be best served by having four of our schools open for grab-and-go meal pick-up. These four schools are located throughout the county and city to allow easy access for any parents who wished to pick up meals for their children. The four schools are Matthew Whaley Elementary School, James River Elementary School, Toano Middle School, and James Blair Middle School. Meal pick-up times are from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The pick-up days have varied depending on the time of the school year and the need. We also established a website where parents could sign up to request meal deliveries if they were unable to pick up meals. Meals were then delivered by school buses to a location close to their house. The meals were prepared at each of the Grab-and-Go school sites and picked up by school buses to be delivered on predetermined routes for the families that had requested the meals. Families of students that would not have had access to meals were able to either pick up the meals from the Grab-and-Go school locations or request that the meals be delivered. Breakfast and lunch meals were provided for Monday through Sunday which eased the financial burden for families with students at home and not eating at school. Families could sign up for meal delivery at any point in time during the school year as their individual situation changed as long as the student was not attending school. After school resumed, meals were delivered to students attending virtual school.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Jane C. Haley, jane.haley@wjccschools.org, (757) 565-3838.

<h3 id="weWellness/Physical Activity

<strong>Charlottesville City Schools:</strong>

CCS Day to Play: Charlottesville City Public Schools collaborated with members of their School Health Advisory Board, the Charlottesville Public Education Foundation as well as several community organizations to provide a safe way for their students, staff, and their families to learn something new or participate in healthy activities at a time when it was difficult to get access. So, the Day to Play event was planned and held to meet these objectives. It was comprised of synchronous and asynchronous wellness sessions that any CCS student or staff member could access during the weekend of the event. They made sure to reach all their community’s needs, and interests by providing diverse offerings for Day to Play. The following activities were available during the Day to Play event: safe walking routes and trails for locations all over the city, Zumba, healthy cooking for adults and for families, nature exploration and activities from Wildrock, yoga, and mindfulness, HIIT workouts, at-home workouts with no equipment, conditioning for athletes, basketball, skating, hands-on arts and crafts, dancing, fitness challenges, diabetes awareness, skateboarding, creating a calming bottle and other stress relief strategies. Over 5,000 students, staff, and families enrolled in the course. Most sessions having over 150 participants with some up to 300.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Jessica Brantley, brantlj1@charlottesvilleschools.org, (434) 245-2717.

<strong>Goochland County Public Schools:</strong>

Goochland Middle School Blacklight Experience: The PE department built a 3 tier stage inside the gym that served as a “DJ” stage or booth. The stage was lined with strip lights and the gym was lit with blacklights. On the wall behind the stage were two projectors with Live School scores. There were 4 televisions and one projector on the stage casting the workout for students. The workouts students performed were filmed ahead of time and choreographed to match the selected music as were the drumming portions. The floor was taped with glow-in-the-dark tape for each student’s space. Inside the student’s boxes were a bucket and exercise ball serving as the “drum” and a pair of drumsticks. The PE collaborated with the art department, the music department, and the theater department. The art department provided blacklight paintings that lined the walls and stage. The music department provided the drumming sections and the theater department provided lighting The main goal of our Black Light Experience Project was to encourage wellness and physical activity with all of our students, both virtual/remote as well as in-person. We wanted to give the students an experience that would allow them to have fun while participating in physical activity and workouts. It definitely was not our typical workout that we would do every day in class for the whole year up to that point. With Covid-19, our students were not able to use the space and equipment in the gym for their workouts like they would during a normal year. Our on-site students were confined to a 6 x 6 “box” which they have to stay in during PE class. The small amount of space limited the workouts and exercises that we were able to do, which led us to create our Black Light Experience Weeks! The songs we tailored our workouts to were all very upbeat, fast, electronica/dance music, which made students want to get into these workouts. We had speakers on maximum volume, the lights off in the gym, and everything neon. Our students loved the vibe in the gym. Many students who were not big on participating in a normal PE class were very engaged in “Black Light” workouts as they felt more comfortable participating with the lights off. Students also enjoyed it because we had multiple cardio drumming sessions throughout our workouts, where students were being active but also getting to bang on a ball and bucket with drumsticks to the beat of the music. Seeing a whole gym of 30-40 students doing squats, jumping jacks, and lunges to the bass of the music was awesome! Students were encouraged to participate in workouts to their ability level. All exercises were able to be modified with a higher or lower intensity/difficulty level. Students were given a warm-up, cool down and water, and rest breaks throughout the workout which also helped them stay focused and engaged.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Erik Hansen, ehansen@glnd.k12.va.us, (804) 556-5320.

<strong>Henrico County Public Schools:</strong>

Wellness Wednesdays: The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent re-opening of in-person learning posed many challenges for school districts across the country. Priority among those challenges was the need to comply with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) safety guidelines including social distancing and regular, intensive cleaning protocols. In planning for students to return to in-person learning during the 2020-2021 school year, Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) initially proposed Wednesday as a day when students would learn virtually and the buildings would be cleaned. HCPS leadership suggested expanding on this prioritization of safety and wellness by using this day to not only clean the building but also focus on student social-emotional needs and physical wellness. Wellness Wednesday was identified as a day where students (Pk-12) would learn virtually, receiving a synchronous social-emotional learning lesson as well as asynchronous learning through Choice Boards supplemented with a physical activity containing fitness, wellness, and mindfulness. Although the details for the students’ return to in-person learning changed many times over the year, Wellness Wednesday remained in the plans. Within the Division of Learning and under the leadership of Dr. Lesley Hughes, Chief Learning Officer, the Departments of Student Support and Wellness and Teaching, Learning, and Innovation helped Wellness Wednesday come to life. Central office leaders outlined the structure for the day and provided lesson content in an easy-to-access platform developed by Educational Specialists across curricular areas. At the elementary level, classroom teachers begin the day with a group meeting and social-emotional learning (SEL) lesson, followed by asynchronous instructional lessons (aligned to a weekly theme) allowing for student voice and choice. Sanford Harmony SEL curriculum used in all elementary schools in HCPS which provided teachers topics and activities to use during the group meetings or Meet-Ups and lessons to provide each week.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Dr. Lesley Hughes, llhughes@henrico.k12.va.us, (804) 652- 3754.

<strong>Roanoke County Public Schools:</strong>

RCPS Student and Staff Wellness Initiative: Roanoke County Schools has implemented a series of steps over the past couple of years to try and increase the opportunities for our staff and students to improve several areas of their wellness. Our focus is to improve the physical, mental/emotional, and social wellness of everyone in the RCPS family. This is a multi-year program that began with increasing the amount of recess our elementary students were getting because we recognize the importance of building healthy habits at an early age. Since then, we have partnered with various entities and added programming to all of our schools and communities in order to provide ample opportunities for improved wellness amongst our students and staff. I have outlined details below to describe our steps to work toward a healthier and happy Roanoke County.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Kevin Burcham, kburcham@rcps.us, (540) 562- 3700 ext. 10255.

<strong>Shenandoah County Public Schools:</strong>

Sandy Hook Elementary School PE Fitness Trails: Ms. Vicki Lutz, Physical Education teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School (SHES), created fitness trails in the wooded area behind the school. She used animal paths that were already in the area and added mulch, wood shavings, and obstacles throughout that area. She has created nine trails. The trails total a little over a mile in length. Similar to trails in the nearby George Washington National Forest, each trail is blazed with different colored markings on trees so that students can find their way. The trails have been named by our students and marked by signs created by Sandy Hook Art teacher, Rayanna Davis.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Robin Shrum, rlshrum@shenandoah.k12.va.us, (540) 465-8281.

<strong>Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools:</strong>

WJCC Growing Strong at Home: Kits for Hands-on Gardening and Cooking: The WJCC Schools Health Initiative Program (SHIP) after-school Challenge Clubs provide students of all backgrounds an opportunity to participate in sports, gardening, and healthy cooking to develop life-long healthy habits. When the Covid-19 pandemic restricted our ability to conduct in-person clubs, SHIP developed new and innovative activities to engage our students. Our new Winter Garden Club and SHIP Chefs Club Challenge offered an at-home, hands-on learning experience to build skills, self-efficacy, and healthy habits during a difficult time. SHIP distributed garden kits to 320 families! The Garden Club ran in February and consisted of four videos of easy planting activities that families could do indoors with just a sunny window: rooting scallions, banana compost tea, radish microgreens, arugula, and alfalfa sprouts. Kits contained all the items required to complete each activity including soil, scissors, and garden tags. Students followed along with videos at home, planting a new vegetable each week and tending the previous weeks’ plantings. Additional outdoor activities were included each week, for example: “find a seed that is waiting for spring to sprout.” The final week featured a vegetable tasting – a hummus sandwich with scallions and microgreens. Throughout the month, students and their families used Padlet.com to post weekly pictures and comments, creating a shared community experience. In May, SHIP “cooked up” some fun for 165 third- through sixth-grade students who were part of our SHIP Chefs Challenge. Students received a mystery bag of ingredients (kale, pinto beans, sweet pepper, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and lemon) and were tasked with creating an original healthy recipe, adding no more than five additional ingredients. Students posted pictures of their dishes and recipes on Padlet for the chance to win a prize. This challenge got our families cooking together with healthy ingredients that many had never used before.
<strong>Division Contact:</strong> Dr. Amy Lazev, amy.lazev@wjccschools.org, (757) 603-6421.