School lunch looks a little different this year. A new organization, the Community Roots School Food Services Agency is now serving lunch (and breakfast!) to students at 28 sites in Western Nevada County.
Some of the meals might look the same, but underneath the hood they are becoming healthier, more local, and more connected to the communities we serve. Take that hamburger, for example. Community Roots hamburgers are not only made from 100% beef, the beef is sourced from California farms that use sustainable practices, like our local Richards Regenerative Ranch. The veggies in the salad bar? They didn’t arrive on a truck from across the country — they were grown in the Sacramento watershed. The tomatoes come from Durst Organics in Yolo County and the Bartlett pears are from Stillwater Orchards in Courtland. KoneffKlatt hopes to start sourcing produce from even closer to home in the not too distant future.
Some meals don’t look the same at all. Instead of donuts and chocolate milk, our children celebrated the first day of school with scratch-cooked blueberry sheet pan pancakes!
Scratch cooked school food didn’t happen overnight. Today’s school food program is the result of years of work by many dedicated people, starting with Aimee Retzler. In 2007, Retzler joined her son for lunch at school and was horrified by how much food she saw going straight into the trash can. She knew there had to be a better way. Retzler joined Live Healthy Nevada County’s Food & Nutrition Action Committee as its first president and stewarded the committee’s evolution into Sierra Harvest, a stand-alone organization dedicated to connecting Nevada County families with fresh, local, seasonal food.
Sierra Harvest laid the groundwork for a partnership with all nine school districts in Western Nevada County, along with the Nevada County superintendent of schools to bring fresh, scratch-cooked school meals to all students through a more sustainable school food model that features local and regional foods and reduces waste.
Today, Community Roots executive director Sam KoneffKlatt is starting to bring that vision to life, with tremendous support from the community. The Community Foundation of Nevada County is acting as a fiscal sponsor for the agency as part of its long-term support of community health. “The Community Foundation is uniquely positioned to support the growth of organizations like Community Roots,” states Cristine Kelly, executive director at the Community Foundation of Nevada County. “By offering fiscal sponsorship, we can serve as a fundraising hub, allowing their team to focus on building out the program. It’s a great partnership.”
Retzler is still playing a key role as a consultant. “Western Nevada County’s farm-to-school program has flourished for 18 years, becoming a model of community-driven change,” said Retzler. “The culinary center represents the final step in that journey, where students can learn, grow, and eat in one connected cycle—from classroom to cafeteria to garden. Community Roots is driving this change, ensuring every meal serves not only our students but also a vision of a healthier, more sustainable future.”
Trisha Dellis, Grass Valley School District Board Trustee and former superintendent of the Nevada City School District, has also been instrumental in advancing scratch-cooked school meals for the county. In her role as superintendent, she championed the Foothills Fresh school meal pilot at Deer Creek and Seven Hills schools, which tested the concept of fresh, scratch-cooked school lunches with great success. “Kids spend more time at school than anywhere else, and we know that the quality of their nutrition directly affects their ability to focus and learn,” said Dellis. “Thanks to the leadership of Nevada County superintendent Scott Lay and our area school district superintendents, we now have an amazing model of collaboration that puts students’ well-being first.” John Baggett, the current superintendent of the Nevada City School District, is also enthusiastic about watching the scratch-cooked school food vision come to life. “It’s exciting to see the collaborative work among our school districts and community agencies over the years coming to reality,” he said. “From the very first day of school, there’s been a noticeable difference in the quality of food for our students.”
KoneffKlatt is excited about the changes he has been able to make so far and even more excited about what is coming. “This is just the start of our journey toward more scratch-cooked meals. We know that achieving that vision will take time, training, and teamwork,” he said. In the meantime, KoneffKlatt and his team are looking for more opportunities to replace the current offerings with scratch-cooked, locally sourced food. Their three-year goal is to prepare meals in a new, centralized culinary center, but for now, they’re producing food in multiple school kitchens — a logistical challenge. Community Roots hopes to be able to invite the public to tour the existing facility and the planned facility space soon, to better demonstrate the transformation that is needed. KoneffKlatt is grateful for everyone’s patience as he and his staff work through this transition phase.
Next on the list: professional development so the Community Roots kitchen staff is prepared to cook meals from scratch every day for 10,000 kids! Find more information on the Community Roots website: https://communityrootsnc.org/.