THE ASSEMBLY
STATE OF NEW YORK
ALBANY

Room 547 Capitol
Albany, New York 12248
(518) 455-5203
FAX (518) 455-5573
sternr@assembly.state.ny.us

Chairman
Felix W. Ortiz

Dear Foodservice Director:

Mark your calendars! The NYS Assembly has proclaimed New York Harvest for New York Kids Week September 28th - October 6th, 2002. I have exciting news! Earlier this year, the State Legislature and the Governor approved a new Farm-to-School Law that includes Harvest Week as one of its features. The new law, including Harvest Week, formally commits State government to the goal of encouraging schools to feature New York foods in their menus and inspiring families to eat more New York-grown foods as part of a program to improve their diets. This will help reverse the trend of declining farms in the State and, at the same time, provide New York's children with improved nutrition.

Because of your commitment to children's health and education, we are asking you to join with your school superintendent, principals, teachers and students in projects to promote good nutrition using New York State foods during this special week. This involvement can be as simple as asking teachers if they could have children draw pictures to put up in the cafeteria. We would like to update our Harvest Week poster for next year, please encourage your art teachers to have students' draw Harvest Week pictures and send us your entries!

Celebrating New York Harvest for New York Kids Week can help educate and inspire school children and their families to eat more New York-grown foods as part of a program to improve their diets; provide linkages between schools and local agriculture, both in the classroom and through visits to farms or farmers' markets; and encourage school foodservice programs to incorporate and feature New York foods in school lunch and breakfast menus. Urban, suburban, and even rural children need to learn more about farming and local foods because so few of our families have any connection to the land anymore.

Last year, several schools sponsored a variety of activities from featuring New York foods on the menu to classrooms visiting farms and farmers' markets. There have been partnerships between schools and farms, schools and cooperative extension, schools and chefs and even produce vendors have gotten involved. You will find information in this packet about schools' participation in farm-to-school demonstration projects and NY Farms! Partnership Awards. You can find out more about award winning projects. Please use the information from your colleagues and other resources to develop your own project. I look forward to presenting awards to your school next year!

We are encouraging organizations such as local Cooperative Extension agencies and the NYS Farm Bureau to continue their creative involvement and we hope more groups will join in. For example, the Department of Agriculture and Markets Guides to Farm Fresh Food, along with other agricultural information and contacts, can be ordered from the Department, and information from the guides about local farm markets and stands could be listed on the backs of your menu during New York Harvest for New York Kids Week.

We have included information and sample materials, including menus, in this packet that should help you and other educators in your district plan events and projects, access materials and develop your own creative ideas. More resources are available each year, please check the resource guide for valuable contacts and information.

In mid-May you can also check the Task Force web page on the Assembly web site http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm and click on updates where we will attempt to post, as much as possible, the Harvest Week material that is enclosed.

FINALLY, PLEASE SEND US, OR THE NY FARMS! SCHOOL FOODSERVICE TASK FORCE, COPIES OF MENUS, RECIPES, ARTWORK AND OTHER MATERIALS YOUR SCHOOLS DEVELOP. WE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE GOOD IDEAS FOR NEXT YEAR!

To contact the NYS Assembly Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition Policy:

Room 547 - Capitol
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: (518) 455-5203 fax: 455-5573
email sternr@assembly.state.ny.us

To fully promote the celebration of this week, government, school officials, educators, farmers, food businesses, and health professionals will have to participate. I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to assist with this effort. Our State's children and farmers also thank you.

Sincerely,

Felix Ortiz
Member of Assembly
Chair, Task Force on Food, Farm & Nutrition Policy