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Walmart Gives Grant To Farm To School Program

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)- Walmart awarded a $13,000 grant to the Fayetteville School District for its Seed to Student program, which is part of the Farm to School pr...

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)- Walmart awarded a $13,000 grant to the Fayetteville School District for its Seed to Student program, which is part of the Farm to School program.

There will be a check presentation at Butterfield Trail Elementary at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 18).

All eight elementary schools and two out of the three middle schools have gardens where students grow everything from carrots, tomatoes and peppers.

Dana Smith, sustainability director, said the money will be used to buy seeds and tools. It will be used to give the volunteers, who help coordinate the gardens, a small stipend and training.

The district uses the gardens as a teaching tool, she said.

"We definitely have seen students working in those gardens, learning about growing their own food, getting excited about where their food comes from especially getting excited about eating fresh fruit and vegetables," Smith said.

The Farm To School program uses some produce from the garden and buys food grown by local farmers.

”The gardens at the schools aren’t large enough to produce for the cafeterias to a large degree but they do harvest some product from the garden and will eat that," Smith said.

"We also work really hard," she said. "Our Food Services Department works with local farmers to purchase food when it’s in season and then we educate our students about where that food is coming from.”

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