WNESU Feeds Families During Thanksgiving

A week off from school didn’t stop the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) Farm to School Cafe team from feeding their community local, delicious food.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Food Service Director, Harley Sterling and his team distributed 523 food boxes filled with local ingredients like Grafton Village Cheese, The Bread Shed bread, Plainville Farm squash, and organic Mi Tierra tortillas. Each family also received an activity about the origin of tortillas and the ingredients to make a quesadilla as a family. 

There will be a second holiday food box distribution in December on the 23rd and 30th. Follow the WNESU Farm to School website for updates on sign-ups and pick-up times.

The Community Finds a Way...Supporting Our Community this Thanksgiving

Giving and receiving in our local community has supported and carried us throughout this pandemic. The upcoming holiday season invites us to further this circle of resiliency. While your traditions may look different this year, the community spirit will be present this holiday season! 

What will your celebration be on Thanksgiving? In August, it was announced that the longstanding Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving wouldn’t happen this year due to safety concerns around COVID-19. Since 1972, this special dinner served over 500 people at its in-person gathering and made deliveries to numerous homebound residents. The Community Thanksgiving also provided a welcoming and inclusive experience “for the community to feed their stomachs and fill their souls.” This year, arguably more than any other year since 1972, more of us need nourishment for our stomachs and souls, so the community has come together to create an alternative. 

Members of the Windham Region Hunger Council met with the Everyone Eats! Brattleboro coalition to come up with a plan. EE!B secured enough funding to provide 1,000 meals for a special holiday distribution. Thanks to additional help from Brattleboro Savings & Loan and donations from local community partners, these meals will be twice the size of a typical EE!B meal and contain a classic Thanksgiving dessert. During these times when gathering to cook an abundant meal might feel overwhelming or not financially feasible, this distribution will help facilitate a memorable and nourishing holiday for everyone in the community.

The special Thanksgiving meal distribution will take place in parallel with the Wednesday, November 25 Everyone Eats! meal distribution from 4 to 6 pm at 80 Flat Street, ensuring that those who need dinner on Wednesday won’t go without. No registration is required; simply stop by in your vehicle or on foot and pick up the number of meals you will need for your family and/or any neighbors who cannot make it.

We are also able to make a very limited number of deliveries for families who have no one to pick up a meal on their behalf. If you need a meal delivered to your home, please visit our order form and request a meal by Friday, November 20th, at the Brattleboro Everyone Eats! website.

If you are unable to access the order form or would like help with the registration process for a meal delivery, you may call 817-888-5125.

While Thanksgiving is centered around food, it is also the start of the holiday spirit of giving and receiving. During this moment in time when community connection is needed more than ever, we offer a menu of options to celebrate and help nourish our community. Everyone has a role to play in that nourishment.

Community Engagement Menu: 

Receive a meal Monday through Thursday 4 to 6 pm at Everyone Eats! through December 31, just recently extended.

Donate to Project Feed the Thousands.

Volunteer with one of the many local organizations helping to make our community run during this holiday season and beyond. Use the United Way of Windham County’s Get Connected Volunteer Portal or call 802-257-4011. 

Sign up for 3SquaresVT, a monthly benefit that helps you buy food. Text VFBSNAP to 85511 or call 1-855-855-6181 to find out more!

Everyone Eats! Brattleboro (EE!B)
EE!B is a project of Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE), a statewide program funded by the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund and made possible through a grant provided by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) to Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA). This program purchases to-go meals from local restaurants for anyone in Brattleboro, Guilford, Vernon, Dummerston, or Putney who has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Over 26,000 meals have been distributed since August 3rd; our impact is currently 850 meals per day, 4 days per week. The Brattleboro coalition consists of representatives from the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance, Vermont Foodbank, Foodworks, Food Connects, the Putney Foodshelf, Putney Mutual Aid, and the State of Vermont.

Cafeterias Unknown: Thanksgiving Extravaganza

November is a time when Farm to School comes alive in the cafeteria. As the Vermont growing season comes to an end and excitement grows for Thanksgiving break, school nutrition staff across the state are hard at work preparing feasts for hundreds. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and roasted veggies fill students’ trays as each school celebrates the holiday in their own unique way. I was able to visit a few schools, lend a hand in the preparations, and enjoy some delicious food. Did I mention, Thanksgiving is also my favorite meal of the year? 

Guilford

Chef Dan serving up stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Guilford Central School hosts a Thanksgiving lunch for staff, students, and parents and this year over half the dishes being served were local—the turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and apple crisp to be exact. Pulling into the parking lot, it was clear that word of the menu had gotten out and I ended up having to park on the street!

After trekking across the parking lot, I made my way through packed hallways to find Chef Dan in the kitchen. Kindergarten through third grade had just finished up and he was getting ready for the second wave of hungry customers. I washed my hands, put on some gloves, and jumped in the buffet line. The staff volunteers and I served up heaping plates of food to grateful students and their teachers and parents until the tables were packed full. 

After the rush, it was time for me to load up a plate for myself and revel in the delicious food. The sweet potatoes in particular were a highlight—perfectly cooked and accompanied by a medley of spices that brought the dish to another level. Kudos to Chef Dan for pulling off an amazing meal, I’ll definitely be back next year! 

Full house in the Guilford Central School cafeteria during their Thanksgiving lunch.

Westminster

At Westminster, their community meal diverts from the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and instead keeps the spotlight on local. I arrived the day before to see what work went into hosting the community. Student ownership is what it’s all about at WCS and at around 1pm, the whole school gathered in the gym to break into their respective “longboats” (the school mascot is a Viking). From there, students set off on their tasks. Some groups were prepping the silverware, while others were decorating the rows of tables laid out in the gym. I followed a large group to the cafeteria, where 40 students equipped with peelers, knives, and cutting boards would be prepping produce for the meal.

Students washed, peeled, and chopped the produce themselves (with adult supervision!)

Local carrots and potatoes and onions grown in the school garden before being prepped by the students.

With food from the school garden and local farms spread across the tables, students in the cafeteria broke up into stations. Three groups peeled and washed potatoes, others chopped carrots, while the last two groups were tasked with dicing onions—four quarts of diced onions later, there was a fair share of onion-induced tears. To say the cafeteria was calm would be a lie, but a teacher-led each group of students and modeled safe knife skills. The whole room remained in a state of controlled chaos while students engaged in real work and helped the school’s nutrition staff prepare for the upcoming feast. 

At the end of the hour, everyone was able to admire their handiwork. Cheese plates ready for eating and the veggies prepared for Melissa—WSC’s site nutrition manager—to transform into delicious chowder. The following day, students would be able to invite their families and friends into the school to share a meal they truly had a part in creating.

Cheese plates arranged for the next day’s big event.

Does your school have a community feast, holiday meal, or local day that you’d like to celebrate? I’d love to highlight your traditions in our newsletter—email me at conor@foodconnects.org!

By Conor Floyd