CONTACT:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lora Rakowski, 443-797-9883
\nLora.Rakowski@maryland.gov
\nJill Hann, 410-767-0218<\/p>\n
Maryland State Department of Education Awards Over $3.8 Million Dollars to 155 Elementary Schools Participate in Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program<\/em><\/p>\n BALTIMORE (October 23, 2020) \u2013 The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has awarded $3,865,000 in federal funds to 155 Maryland elementary schools<\/a> to help children build lifelong healthy eating habits. The funds made available by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) provide fresh fruits and vegetables to students enrolled in participating schools statewide.<\/p>\n To facilitate participation for schools serving non-congregate meals while operating the Summer Food Service Program during the pandemic, the MSDE requested and was approved for two statewide waivers from the USDA. The first waiver allows FFVP foods to be provided to parents or guardians when they are picking up meals for their children. The second waiver allows districts to designate alternate pick-up sites if a participating school is not an active meal site. This waiver allows children enrolled in participating schools to maintain access to the Program even if their school is not a meal site.<\/p>\n \u201cThis federal, state and local partnership introduces children to fresh fruits and vegetables that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to sample,\u201d said State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon, Ph.D. \u201cThe Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program is especially critical during this time as it continues to provide healthy,\u00a0fresh, and\u00a0nutritious\u00a0options for Maryland students.\u201d<\/p>\n The FFVP includes schools with a high percentage of low-income students, who often have limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 Students are provided a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, at no charge. The FFVP teaches students that fresh produce can be a healthy and a delicious snack.<\/p>\n For more information on Maryland\u2019s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, please contact Jill Hann at the MSDE\u2019s Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs at 410-767-0218 or Jill.Hann@Maryland.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Maryland State Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are equal opportunity employers and providers.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n MSDE Awards Over $3.8 Million Dollars to Provide Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for Elementary Students<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CONTACT:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lora Rakowski, 443-797-9883
\nProvide Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for Elementary Students<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nLora.Rakowski@maryland.gov
\nJill Hann, 410-767-0218
\nMaryland State Department of Education Awards Over $3.8 Million Dollars to
\nProvide Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for Elementary Students
\n155 Elementary Schools …Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,38,5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-mediaalert","category-news","category-newsreleases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47433"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47840,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47433\/revisions\/47840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}