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School offering ‘share tables’

FAIRMONT — Fairmont Area Schools recently adopted “share tables,” a strategy to encourage the consumption of nutritious foods and reduce food waste.

Both the elementary and high schools began using share tables in October.

The USDA authorized share tables in June 2016. Mary Cole, the student account technician for the district, had heard about it from the Minnesota Department of Education earlier in this year and pushed for it locally.

Share tables allow food and beverage items to be reused in a number of ways. Children may take an additional helping of a food or beverage item from the share table at no cost. Food or beverage items left on the share table may be served or claimed for re-use during an after-school program or lunch the next day. Or leftover food and beverage items may be donated to a non-profit organization.

Superintendent Joe Brown explained that the items put on share tables need to be self-contained or wrapped. They need to be unopened prepackaged items, such as baby carrots or a bag of pretzels, or whole pieces of fruit such as bananas or apples. Unopened milk can be on the share table as long as it remains cold.

In the few months they have been set up, share tables have proven popular at the elementary school.

“It gets utilized some (at the high school) but probably not as much as here,” Cole said. “Here the lunch ladies will take the bins that sit on the share tables around toward the end and see if kids want any more.”

Cole has heard from the lunch ladies that most days after lunch the bins at the share table are empty at the elementary school. She sees it as something that really helps out those students who are in need of a little more at lunch time.

“We know there are some kids that have their last meal here and when they get home, there’s not much there,” Cole explained.

Brown touched on the different ways share tables have been beneficial to the district.

“It’s always sad to see good food thrown away,” he said. “This reduces waste and it fulfills the need. It’s really a win-win, it helps the kids and it reduces waste.”

“It’s also a good thing at a young age for kids to see that it’s OK to share,” Brown said. “If you have something that you don’t need, it’s OK to share it with someone else. And what I’ve learned about Fairmont in the last eight years that I’ve been here is that it’s a very sharing and caring community. When we have people in need, there’s people who step forward who are willing to donate time, money or things.”

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