Schools
Sourcing healthy food for our kids.
The OKC Food Hub is working hard to make it easier for your school to source healthy, local, food as we believe all children deserve to be well-nourished. We work to aggregate small-midsize farmers from across the state to get the products you are looking for delivered to you at an affordable price.
Photo courtesy of Midwest City Elementary School Kitchen Staff
State Funding Available
For Local Purchases
Right now in Oklahoma there is money available through the Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry for schools to purchase local food in increments of $5,000-$25,000 at a time (reimbursable). The OKC Food Hub is an approved vendor for this funding and aggregate on behalf of many listed small-mid size farmers to bring a large selection of products delivered directly to your school. We handle payments to producers and pay them weekly while waiting for school monthly purchase orders, and work with you to meet all the paperwork and reporting requirements you need for your organization. If you haven’t already, check out the Local Food for Schools funding application below and feel free to email us with any questions!
Why Buy Local?
Buying locally grown food supports local producers in growing some of the freshest, most nutritious products for their community. When you buy through the OKC Food Hub, you can feel assured that your products are traceable to the source, utilize growing practices as indicated on the website, and that they will arrive to your doorstep in time to serve to students. Seeing these fresh, local products in your cafeteria (along with some beautiful signage) can help students identify where their food came from and reflect more on agriculture, food, nutrition & the environment. Students will surely taste the difference in quality and flavor as well!
The OKC Food Hub makes it easier for schools to source local by:
Completing a bidding process for local products if necessary
Acting as an intermediary between farmers to assure they are paid in a timely manner
Aggregating across multiple farms to provide a more diverse selection and quantity of products
Offering weekly year-round online ordering with delivery
Providing marketing materials to identify local products in the lunch line
Offering access to an account which tracks all invoices/sales records
Providing traceability on all products to farmers along with growing practices
If you are looking to explore possibilities beyond the lunch line such as “Harvest of the Month” days, after school programs, breakfast or head start programs or anything else, please reach out!
We’d love to explore options with you.
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