As autumn temperatures kept the courtyard cool throughout the late morning, nearly 2,500 Houston MSTC High School students headed outdoors for an early homecoming celebration with lunch hosted by HISD Nutrition Services chefs and staff.
The outdoor fare was part of a new Tailgate/School Pop Up program that encourages students to enjoy the good food provided daily by Nutrition Services campus kitchens.
The Houston Independent School District takes pride in ensuring our students are served a well-balanced lunch to help fuel their learning, and we’re recognizing the importance of those efforts during National School Lunch Week, which begins Oct. 11.
Continue readingA cool morning breeze pushed humid air over the dewy grass at Golfcrest Elementary, as parents and community volunteers raked and reclaimed the campus garden beds.
Nearly 20 excited students joined in to help prepare the soil and build additional vegetable and flower beds for the fall growing season.
Three HISD elementary schools were honored for their strong nutrition education programs with the Texas Department of Agriculture’s inaugural Pear-fection Awards.
The award was created to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of campus nutrition teams and their efforts to provide students with access to fresh produce and encourage life-long healthy habits.
As the sun rose over Mykawa Farm, Bernadette Plummer gathered with fellow military veterans to build garden beds where students can plant seeds and a gazebo to offer the young agriculturists shade from the Texas heat.
Nearby, other volunteers assembled outdoor teaching tables and a hoop house where seeds from HISD school garden will be kept warm enough to sprout in the winter.
With the new school year set to begin on Monday with 100 percent in-person learning, Nutrition Services is ending its campus curbside pickup and apartment complex delivery programs for summer meals.
The final distributions for both programs are Thursday, Aug. 19. Pickups and deliveries on that day will include three days’ worth of student meals, hand sanitizer, and masks. No further distributions are scheduled.
Continue readingWith just three weeks left in the school year and public health conditions improving across the city, the Houston Independent School District is preparing to shut down its Neighborhood Supersite community food distribution program.
The two final distributions will be held this Wednesday, May 26, 2021 and next Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Both will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. at Barnett Stadium, 6800 Fairway Drive. No further Saturday distributions are scheduled.
Continue readingHundreds of cars idled under a grey sky with trunks ajar on Saturday as Nutrition Services worked to load them full of bags, heavy with holiday turkeys, groceries, and other household supplies.
Jessie Eagle was among those in line. She spent hours snaking through the parking lot, using the time to knit a scarf — a handmade holiday present — out of forest green yarn.
The mom of three said she was laid off earlier this year due to the pandemic, so she came to HISD’s Neighborhood Supersite at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Saturday for help.
Continue readingFacing hundreds of cars in a line that stretched down the street and around the block, it would have been easy for Nutrition Services staff to feel overwhelmed at their first neighborhood supersite in southeast Houston.
But for a department known for its dedication to keeping families fed and well-nourished, it was all in a day’s work on Wednesday — the launch of weekly community food distributions.
Hosted through a partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the supersites provide a place where Houstonians can go each week to pick up 32-pound family food packages and a week’s worth of student meals.
Continue readingNutrition Services Chef Trainer Brittany Jones is used to teaching others how to prepare tasty, nutritious meals. Now she’ll get to share her expertise with others around the state thanks to a virtual learning seminar.
Jones recently visited Texas A&M University where she filmed culinary demonstrations to be included in virtual lessons for the Learn, Grow, Eat, and Go program offered by Texas AgriLife Extension’s Junior Master Gardener program.
Learn, Grow, Eat, and Go curriculum is used in select HISD elementary science classes to teach students about gardening, nutrition, and physical activity to promote long-term health. Nutrition Services hopes to share the new virtual lessons, which complement the in-person curriculum, all HISD elementary teachers via science curriculum coordinators.
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