Food for Thought Ojai

Mission Statement Food for Thought works with the local community to support, educate and inspire our school children and their families to make healthier food choices. Food for Thought (FFT) was organized by a group of concerned parents, educators and growers who first came together in the spring of 2002 to improve the nutritional status and food awareness of children in the Ojai Unified School District (OUSD). With the help of our committed staff, volunteers and donors, our program has helped to address several important concerns—raising awareness of the importance of good childhood nutritional practices to avoid health-related problems like diabetes, raising awareness among our children and their parents of the integral role of agriculture in our community, and enabling children to reconnect to the land and environment that sustains them. FFT has developed five inter-related program components with associated curricula that integrate California State Academic Standards. These program components are: 1) nutrition education, 2) garden-based learning, 3) agricultural literacy through farm field trips, and 4) advocating for fresh, local, seasonal produce in all school meals. The fifth and newest component, the “5Rs” (reduce, reuse, recycle, rot and rethink!) focuses on minimizing the ecological footprint of the OUSD by minimizing landfill waste, reducing use of toxic chemicals, efforts to conserve energy and water and paper and other resources.