Audrey Rowe

School nutrition folks in Chicago have been busy. Last May, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and locally-based Healthy Schools Campaign launched the city’s Go for the Gold campaign. The effort seeks to have 100 city schools qualify for USDA’s HealthierUS Challenge gold award. As part of that...

While some might think that Chicagoans are only passionate about sports and pizza, they’re mistaken. In fact, lately it seems that residents of the Second City are as jazzed about the food their children eat at school as they are about their Bulls and Bears.

Last week I attended a rollicking event on Chicago’s West Side. Healthy Schools Campaign’s Cooking Up Change event—a benefit and competition between students to create healthy and tasty school meals—was attended by over 600 enthusiastic high schoolers, community leaders, local government leaders and...

There is new hope for more families in Clarksville, TN thanks to a larger WIC clinic opening to service expectant and new mothers and their children. WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, provides Federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care...

Top U.S. Department of Agriculture officials came to Novato in September to learn about the district’s success in partnering with various community organizations to bring fresh, local and organic fruits and vegetables to school meals while supporting local farmers. Project Lunch is the culmination...

It was my privilege to celebrate National School Lunch Week in Byram, MS, the greater Jackson area, to recognize Byram Middle School for meeting the Gold level of the HealthierUS School Challenge. I was glad that Deuce McAllister, retired running back for the New Orleans Saints and Ole Miss, was...

National School Lunch Week is underway this week. It’s an annual event, of course, but this year I think we have a lot to celebrate because more and more people are coming to understand how important it is to provide America’s school children with a healthy nutrition environment at school. In fact...

I recently had the pleasure accompanying Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Audrey Rowe and Yvette Jackson, Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator on a visit to Duval Elementary-Middle School in Lincoln County, West Virginia. Known for wide open spaces and a laid back lifestyle, Lincoln County...

It was all hands on deck at the 3 rd Annual Faith, Families & Schools Conference held in Cromwell, Connecticut. I was extremely pleased to see many of my state colleagues working together in such an important effort. I participated as the keynote speaker and was introduced by George A. Coleman...

I recently took a drive out to Martinsburg, West Virginia to visit Orr’s Farm Market . The Orr’s market, like dozens in the area, stock fresh fruits and vegetables just harvested from the nearby fields and fertile orchards. In fact, more than 95 percent of Orr’s produce is grown just feet from where...