MAINSTEE — Five Michigan schools, including three in Manistee, will receive new salad bars as part of a $25,000 investment from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the Chef Ann Foundation.
The schools selected for the Salad Bars to Schools program are Manistee Early Childhood Center, Manistee Elementary School, Manistee Middle/High School, Mio-Ausable School in Oscoda and Superior Central School in Alger.
The investment is intended to increase students’ access to fresh, nutritious foods in school cafeterias.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan said the latest funding builds on its efforts to bring salad bars to schools across the state. The company said it has helped fund more than 120 salad bars, giving nearly 50,000 students access to fresh food choices.
“At Blue Cross, we believe healthy habits start early and that every student should have access to nutritious choices that support their long-term well-being,” Tiffany Albert, senior vice president of Community Relations and chief inclusion officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, said in a news release.
Albert said the investment is part of the company’s broader Power Your Health initiative, which focuses on nutrition and healthy habits.
The Chef Ann Foundation said salad bars can also help schools transition from heat-and-serve meals toward more scratch cooking and fresh ingredients.
“Salad bars offer a straightforward, scalable approach for school districts transitioning from a heat-and-serve model to more scratch cooking,” Mara Fleishman, CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, said in the release.
Manistee Area Public Schools Nutrition Services Director Haleigh Savage said the district was excited to be selected for the grant.
“We were thrilled to be notified that our school district was among those awarded this grant,” Savage said.
Savage said the district hopes to use the equipment to increase access to fresh, locally grown foods while reducing packaging waste.
The salad bar investment is part of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s Power Your Health initiative.
Dining and Cooking