Reflection on a Year of Covid-19 and the Farm to School Community's Response

“When the music changes, so must the dance” 

This blog post is about the farm to school community’s response to Covid-19. 

The last in-person meeting I attended was on March 11, 2020. I was seated in a government building conference room with a few dozen farm to school leaders representing school nutrition, agriculture, gardening, education, and public health. This group has been meeting quarterly for the last decade to share ideas and programs on how to get kids to eat and grow fresh, local food at school. 

The featured guest was a motivational speaker and we reflected on leadership and how to successfully navigate challenges.  “When the music changes, so must the dance,” he said. Throughout the meeting, he had us repeat this phrase over and over and over.  He’d point to one side of the room and direct us to sing, “When the music changes...” and then the other side retorted, “...so must the dance, so must the dance, so must the dance.”  It was an extremely campy activity, but by the end of the session we were gleefully chanting along. 

Did he know the world was on the verge of falling apart? Did he know how useful this this mantra would be over the next year?

By the end of the day on Friday March 13, almost nothing was unchanged.

Schools were going virtual; store shelves were empty; people’s livelihoods became unrecognizable; and people were dying.

School nutrition staff caught the beat first. While some people had the luxury of sitting at home and staring into a wall, others like Marietta City Schools Nutrition Director Cindy Culver hit ground running. She had to.

Culver reflected, “March 13 will forever be imprinted in my brain. Schools were out, but we knew that we had to get children meals. So the next day, at 5 a.m. on Saturday, I met my staff members and we made a plan. Our number one goal was to feed our kids.”

They worked the entire weekend to organize food, design new menus, and create a distribution plan. By Monday afternoon, the Marietta School Nutrition team sent 13 buses out to deliver meals to 3,500 children.  Even the superintendent joined on some of these trips. This same scenario was playing out in school districts across the entire state and country. 

Dr. Linette Dodson, Georgia Department of Education Nutrition Director was also at the March 11 meeting. When she left the office that Friday, she and many members of her team clocked in 40 hours that weekend as they prepared USDA waivers so that schools could continue to serve meals. “School nutrition professionals were so resourceful, committed and passionate about providing school meals. The way schools and communities worked together to partner made it so impactful.”

On March 13, Debbie Hillman, who serves on the Board of Directors for Black Child Development- Atlanta, received an urgent call from a Newton County School Board member. She shared that the schools were closing, and there was a two-day gap to find meals before a new meal system could be created. “We immediately went to work calling people and organizations to see who could help. As a result, 150 children were served lunch those days. It just showed how important it is to know people in different places, so you can pick up the phone.”

Teachers had to learn a new dance over nite as well. Many welcomed their students on Zoom on Monday morning, while assuring their students that everything was fine. With school buildings closed, Captain Planet Foundation didn’t let those school garden sites go to waste. They sprung into action to create an initiative to grow, harvest and donate over 80,000 lbs of food.

Some schools, like early learning sites for children aged 0-5, couldn’t go virtual. The young children of front-line workers had to go somewhere safe while parents were at work.  

But new regulations required more resources, paperwork and smaller class sizes. Wande Okonoren-Meadows, Director of Little Ones Learning Center states, “I’ve worked harder during Covid with a fraction of the kids than my entire career.” 

On top of all the additional work, her organization successfully partnered with good food distributor Common Market Southeast to pass out almost 10,000 Farm Food Boxes to Clayton county residents, and continues that service today. 

Farmers to Family Box distributed by Common Market Southeast and Hand, Heart and Soul. Photo credit: Hand, Heart and Soul

Carrie Ashbee, Director of the Georgia Early Learning Foundation, quickly changed the direction of their grants to support urgent operational needs. Childcare programs were struggling to pay their teachers and rent, and parents serving as frontline workers desperately needed scholarships for childcare.  “Childcare operates on razor thin margins. These directors are doing it because they are passionate about serving children.”  Asbee also partnered with Wellstar also provided a free PPE give-away on Facebook. 

Children show off PPE donated by Georgia Early Learning Foundation and Wellstar.

Local farmers pivoted as well. “When the grocery stores ran out, farmers showed everyone just how resilient they were by consistently bringing healthy, safe food to the farmers market,”  said Michael Wall, Farmer Services Director at Georgia Organics. Meanwhile, the Farm to School program could no longer provide in-person workshops and began to offer online webinars. October Farm to School Month took off without a hitch, reaching over 730,000 children this year! 

And at Small Bites Adventure Club, we changed our dance too. Pre-pandemic, we had grown our program to reach 150 schools and clubs. With nowhere to ship our product, we thought- maybe now is the time to create a kit for all those kids at home.

We partnered with Daymaker to launch and distribute over 7,000 Farm to Home Explorer Kits.  One of the local distribution partners was in our own backyard: Hand, Heart and Soul in Clayton County. Today, all parents can subscribe and we also have an easy way to donate to children served by HealthMPowers. 

Farm to Home Explorer Kits were launched during the pandemic to continue food and nutrition education at home.

We also worked with our farm to school colleagues to create Covid 19 guidelines for tasting and gardening, and we made lots of fun food and farm videos for little kids.

Our collective work continues, and is more important than ever. While strong immunity and health is critical during this time, a report found that fruit and vegetable consumption decreased during the pandemic.  

I’m happy to say that the Farm to School group that met last March is still meeting virtually. We are creating our new strategic plan, which will better address racial equity, inclusion, and access. 

In fact, as Dr. Dodson noted, change continues to be constant. There’s a new administration, and new dietary guidelines to learn and navigate.  Even through these challenging times, she continues to see a sustained focus on farm to school and local food purchases. 

It’s been a challenging year, but we learned new dances. Sometimes, we’re all just free-styling until we know what we’re doing. I’m so grateful and proud to be part of the farm to school community. I wish I could have included all of them in this love letter.  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you have done for children and families this past year.