 While participating in last year’s Power Up Your Program, Angelina Rios focused her efforts on messaging to students and families about healthy foods. After exploring different avenues and partnerships, Angelina and team launched weekly announcements at Cedarhurst Elementary highlighting foods and ingredients served in the cafeteria. These fun, fresh announcements helped build student excitement and awareness of ingredients including cherries, asparagus, and berries. Students learned fun facts about food origins and nutrient content, as well as where to find them in the cafeteria.
Families also had a chance to learn about these foods through complementary newsletters that previewed the lunch menu and explored ways to encourage eating nutrient-dense foods at home. Read more about Angelina's work here!
Power Up Your Program is offered by the OSPI through a FY 2023 Team Nutrition grant funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
 School Year (SY) 2025–26 is the last year OSPI will offer Power Up Your Program as an interactive, supported training opportunity. The program will be available only as a Canvas course in SY 2026–27 and beyond.
This is a fantastic chance to take your program to the next level alongside a cohort of child nutrition peers. Choose one of the four action pathways available: nutrition education, culturally inclusive meals, program promotion, or local school wellness policies.
Sign up by October 15!
Questions? Email CNSTraining@k12.wa.us.
SY 2025–26 courses kick off October 20.
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Taste the World: Your School Lunch Passport
Explore the world of school lunch and celebrate National School Lunch Week October 13–17!
Take a culinary trip with cuisine from across the world. Check out these recipes to feature during National School Lunch Week (NSLW).
Find a collection of toolkits, student activities and promotional materials on the NSLW webpage.
We want to hear about your NSLP activities and celebrations! Send your NSLW celebrations to SchoolMeals@k12.wa.us!
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Coming soon - Rooted In Excellence Awards!
As part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Team Nutrition grant, OSPI will launch a new recognition program for Washington's school meal programs sponsors called Rooted in Excellence!
Recognition award recipients will receive a media toolkit with a personalized certificate, badge, press release template, public recognition, and more!
The application will open October 1. More information will be available in the October 9 School Meals monthly webinar and the October SSTAR newsletter.
Questions? Email CNStraining@k12.wa.us.
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Farm to School Month
October is National Farm to School Month!
Help raise awareness about the benefits of farm to school programs that provide connections between schools and local farmers while providing fresh, nutritious foods in school cafeterias.
 To help celebrate Farm to School Month, schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and/or the School Breakfast Program (SBP) can order up to 10 rolls of stickers from the USDA Farm to School Website.
Each entity with schools participating in NSLP and SBP can order up to 10 rolls of 200 2-inch stickers.
Order stickers from USDA Farm to School Program.
If you want stickers by October 1, order immediately. The current website shows a limit of three rolls, but USDA permits up to 10 rolls per organization.
Taste Washington Day
Celebrate Taste Washington Day and the Washington Apple Crunch on Wednesday, October 8! To learn more about how you can celebrate, check out this article.
Bite into a locally grown apple with fellow Washingtonians at 12pm on October 8 to celebrate Taste Washington Day! Use Eat Local First's Washington Wholesale Food Finder online map of local farmers, ranchers, fishers and processors to identify vendors near you.
For planning support, keep an eye on the WSDA Farm to School website and explore the Taste Washington Day Toolkit. Updated sign-up forms and resources will be available soon.
Washington Farm to School Network
Do you know about Washington's Farm to School Network? If you are looking to connect and collaborate with others in Washington to advance equitable access to local nutritious foods and green spaces, consider joining the network and one of three Communities of Practice: Local Food Sourcing; School, Agriculture and Garden Education; or Farm to Early Care & Education.
Farmer + School Buyer Networking and Panel Session: School food buyers are invited to a special networking session with Washington organic and regenerative farmers during the annual Tilth Alliance conference. The networking session will be followed by a panel featuring two successful farm to school partnerships. Registration is free for school buyers to attend the networking and panel session.
Date: Friday, November 14, 2025
Networking from 1:15 – 2:15 pm
Panel from 2:30 – 3:45 pm
Location: Spokane Valley, WA
Learn More - registration coming soon
Harvest of the Month
OSPI’s Harvest of the Month resource sheets help districts feature seasonal, Washington-grown foods. For September, we’re spotlighting pears. Each sheet includes fun facts, nutrition highlights, selection and storage tips, recipe ideas (K–12 friendly), and classroom/cafeteria activities you can use to promote tasting and participation.
Access the pears resource sheet on the Farm to School webpage under “Harvest of the Month.” If pears are limited in your area, consider other local, in-season fruits (e.g., apples or plums).
For support sourcing HOM items, email farmtocnp@k12.wa.us.
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Grant Opportunities
USDA Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Farm to School Grant Application
This grant is designed to increase the availability of local foods in Child Nutrition Program (CNP) operations and connect students to the sources of their food through education, taste tests, school gardens, field trips, and local food sourcing for CNP meals. Grants can be used to launch new farm to CNP programs or expand existing efforts.
Application Deadline: December 5, 2025
Competitive Grants from $100,000 to $500,000*
FY 26 Grant Objective: To improve access to local foods in eligible CNP sites through comprehensive farm to CNP programming that includes local sourcing and agricultural education efforts.
USDA Farm to School Team Grant Office Hours
Date: October 8 and 21
Time: 11am – 12pm
*25% non-federal funding match required.
Schools and school districts must apply in a partnership with at least two other organizations.
For more information, visit the FY2026 Farm to School grant webpage.
USDA’s Team Nutrition recently released new and updated resources that support school menu planning and foster a healthy school environment.
📺 Watch: New Trainings for Successful School Menu Planning
Team Nutrition has added seven short, on-demand webinars to its Road to Successful Menu Planning for School Meals series. These trainings help schools meet nutrition standards and meal pattern requirements and count toward USDA Professional Standards (Key Area 1000: Nutrition, Topic 1100: Menu Planning):
Menu Planning Topics
Reducing Added Sugars
These trainings are available via the Institute of Child Nutrition’s iLearn portal and USDA’s Professional Standards Trainings and Tracker Tool.
🧑🍳 Join: Free ICN Training Webinars
The Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) offers free webinars for school nutrition professionals. Upcoming sessions include:
Subscribe to the ICN newsletter to receive registration links one week before each webinar.
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