Fifty Stearns Elementary School students took home backpacks full of healthy snacks and meals April 26 thanks to a
new program offered by Mazama High School FFA and agriculture foods students.
The Nourishing Future Vikings Program aims to help families in need by providing food for the weekend. Students
take home filled backpacks on Fridays and bring them back on Monday. Tuesday, the Mazama students collect the
packs and refill them, sending them home again with the same students on Friday.
“We appreciate the partnership with Mazama to introduce our students to the food programs they offer and at the
same time be able to help our families who need a little extra support,” said Janell Preston, principal at Stearns
Elementary School.
In addition to store bought items, the backpacks also contained applesauce made that week in class by Mazama food
students. The students dropped off the backpacks on Friday, meeting with Stearns students in the school’s
community service learning class. Those students helped unload the backpacks and learned about the new program
to help their classmates.
Plans are to include fresh produce grown in the school’s greenhouse when possible as well as other store bought and
homemade items such as spaghetti sauce and soup mixes.
The program was started with a $2,500 grant. Myndy Holbrook, Mazama’s agriculture foods program teacher, hopes
to eventually expand to other elementary schools with the help of additional grants and community support.
There are 165 students involved in Mazama’s agricultural foods processing classes, a part of the school’s CTE
(career and technical education) programs of study.
