In Lewiston, Golden lauds school districts’ efforts to integrate locally produced foods into school lunch offerings

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) met at Edward Little High School yesterday with staff from the Lewiston, Auburn and Lisbon school districts, as well as nonprofits Full Plates Full Potential and Maine Equal Justice, to discuss the districts’ effort to integrate more locally grown and harvested foods into school food programs.

“Kids in these schools are eating Maine potatoes and haddock, thanks to the creative work of these three school districts and their efforts to create a school-based local food production hub,” Golden said. “These outside-the-box efforts are strengthening local supply chains, supporting local producers and getting nutritious food onto students’ plates. I applaud all those involved.”  

Full Plates Full Potential is leading the local effort to improve school nutrition by opening shared food processing centers in Maine. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is supporting their work with a $7.4 million School Food System Innovation Grant. 

Golden also discussed the importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in ensuring Maine children have access to adequate, nutritious food. One in five Maine childrenexperience hunger, which is linked to worsened academic performance, increased health problems, and stunted development. 

Golden has been committed to tackling childhood food insecurity throughout his time in Congress. During his first term, he helped lead a bipartisan push to cut red tape that made it harder for schools to prepare and deliver food during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also part of the successful effort to increase SNAP benefits by 15 percent during the first year of the pandemic. 

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