Perry County Farm to School

Program Type: 
Academic Classrooms, School Cafeterias
Grade Level/Age Group: 
High School, Middle School, Upper Elementary, Lower Elementary, Pre-Kindergarten
Number of Individuals Program Serves: 
5,000
Year Founded: 
2014
About the Program: 

The Perry County Farm to School Program benefits over 4,000 Perry County students in the rural Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky. An obstacle of being in the Appalachian region is that resources are limited, but in Perry County there is a community movement to combat those limitations by providing a support framework for healthier communities. This began as a vision of the Perry County School's Child Nutrition Services Department with the creation of the Farm to School Program.  Both entities work hand in hand to provide services to bridge the gap between students, fresh local foods and Kentucky farmers. The implementation of the Farm to School program has helped to introduce locally grown fruits and vegetables to students, which allows them the opportunity to create a healthier relationship with the foods they eat and to make more informed, health-conscious decisions about the foods they put into their bodies.