See It: The Community being helped

The purpose of this project, initiated by a small group of conscientious teenagers, (Team Gaia), is to help other young voices, our own ages, affect change, by motivating, and educating people everywhere on the topic near and dear to our hearts: healthy eating. What we hope to achieve, is to get healthier school lunch menu items (featuring local farmers’ produce) into our Duval County schools in Florida, and to help educate other communities on how to do the same thing. We will achieve this through a documentary, blogs, podcasts and following the progress on our website.

After reviewing the current food available at our schools, and talking with many students and adults in the system, it appears that the majority dislike the food served them on a daily basis at lunch time. They all agree that the food offered is mostly unhealthy and tasteless. As food is such an important part of our lives, we feel we should have a choice to buy healthy, nutritional foods, locally grown when possible, at school.

Over the past 6 months we have researched the school lunches in Duval County. As part of our research we surveyed students and faculty on the lunches currently served. We have contacted, and are currently arranging interviews with experts that have affected major changes in their school lunch programs in other areas of the country. We have spoken with contacts within the city government on the process of picking a lunch distributor, as well as contacting the distributor for our area to discuss options for the school lunch program. As we progress with this food revolution, we have endeavored to not only change the Duval County program, but we hope to encourage communities around the USA to improve their school lunch programs, so that it includes healthier food options in schools everywhere.