Dairy farmer Kelly Reynolds of Reycrest Farm in Corfu, N.Y., and Nate Chittenden of Dutch Hollow Farm in Schodack Landing, N.Y., hosted live virtual farm tours last week for more than 2,300 students from four schools that participated in the NY Thursdays nutrition program.
This fall, 2,172 schools participated in the NY Thursdays program, where ADA North East reached more than 1.3 million students with positive dairy messages. Students watched a pre-recorded video featuring local New York dairy farmers and our National Football League partners to learn where the milk and dairy served in their school comes from.
Those schools with the most video views were entered to win prizes for their students, which included the virtual farm tours hosted by Reynolds and Chittenden, and a virtual NFL experience with current and former players and dairy advocates. Schools included Brighton High School in Rochester; Charles Upson Elementary School in Lockport; MS 137 America’s School of Heroes in New York City; and MS 172 Irwin Altman Middle School in Queens.
NY Thursdays is a school nutrition program designed to increase awareness for locally sourced milk and dairy foods. The program first launched in New York City and has grown to become part of New York State’s farm-to-table movement, and encourages school nutrition directors to serve local foods on Thursdays and every day.