Welcome! Please introduce yourself by typing your name, position, and where you work into the chat box. Also, how will you continue fostering the new partnerships that you created this year?

Good Morning! Alicia Pitrone from Escondido High School DIstrict.

Hi... I am Agnes Lally from Garden Grove USD

Nicole Hite- Nutrition Services Operations Supervisor, San Dieguito Union HSD

Sally Spero, retired school lunch nerd

Good Morning! Stephanie Bruce Palm Springs USD

Robert Lewis, CEO, Santa Clarita Valley SFSA - JPA

Kursten Orr, Bonsall USD

Good Morning! Bryan Miller Assistant Director of Child Nutrition Madera Unified.

Hi everyone, I’m so sorry I can’t stay on this call today. This has been such an amazing group and wonderful support during this year. Thank you, thank you for all the learnings and good cheer. Christina Hecht, UC Nutrition Policy Institute.

Alyssa Ribaya from Oxnard Union High School District

Hello! Chela Cooper, Maryland State Dept of Education, School Nutrition Operations and Culinary Specialist

Good Morning everyone!

Good Morning, Marley Nelms, Dir. Nutrition Services San Dieguito Union High School District

Good Morning Everyone :) Ana Grajeda from Los Angeles Academy of Arts Los Angeles

Morning everyone! Abby Halperin, Policy and Grants Manager at the Center for Ecoliteracy.

Good morning! Naomi Shadwell, Director of CNS, San Marcos Unified School District

Bethany Markee from Orcutt USD

Laurel Goins Director Lucia Mar. Hi all!

Good morning! Lea Bonelli, Encinitas USD

Good Morning Vicki from Patterson Unified, Nutrition Service Director

Buenos dias, everyone! Emma Finn here from Friends of the Earth :)

Morning everyone! I’m Yanelly Alonso from Orange County Educational Arts Academy (OCEAA) :)

Emily Cena, Director of Food & Nutrition, Ramona Unified School District

Marc Milton, Downey USD

National Director Marion Williams, Wellness in the Schools

Good Morning! Kamilah Williams

C Hernandez, Marfa ISD, Texas

Good morning everyone - Jen here from LunchAssist. I am so thankful for all of the new friends and partnerships we’ve made this year. I am looking forward to staying connected with all of you!

Colleen Robinson SDUSD Food and Nutrition Services

Good morning, Kari Johnson from Lunch at the Library Program!

Morning All! Erin Primer at SLCUSD :) Will continue to connect with like minded school foodies!!

Kamilah Williams, Assistant Director, Glendale Unified School District

Good morning! Rosa Rubio from Calistoga JUSD

Cathy Moura, Food Services Director, Wright District Santa Rosa

Join the LunchAssist community here: https://www.lunchassist.org/join

Jess Simonson - I’m a Project Manager with the Center for Ecoliteracy and have been sitting in the background for _every_ Community of Practice call. I’ll miss y’all but I’m looking forward to continuing to work with some of you as I support some virtual events and our grant projects !

Robin Hernandez, No Kid Hungry

Hello everyone. Julia Oberst, Coordinator of Food & Nutrition Services for the Levy County School District in Florida.

Suzanne Lugotoff R.D., SNS - Oxnard School District

Good Morning

Hello everyone!

Jizel Kazangian -- Glendale Unified School District- Nutrition Services Senior Admin. Assistant.

Cathleen Olsen, Winters JUSD

Good Morning!

Cindy Long - Cook - Loleta School

Susan Dalandan, Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council, PA

Amanda Mascia, Hunger Free Kids Manager, San Diego Hunger Coalition

Amber Watson, Marysville Joint Unified School District, CA

Good Morning to everyone! So thankful for all of you and looking forward to continuing to stay connected in the coming school year.

Jennifer Gonzales Glendale USD

This is just the last call for the school year correct? :)

Suzy Sayre El Monte Union HS District

For you folks in other states... what are you experiencing for school and kindergarten registration for SY 2021-22? Our school districts are very concerned because they are way behind!

Geri Lorenzana, Mountain View SD

What is Cultural Competence and Why is It Important for School Nutrition Professionals? https://www.lunchassist.org/blog/what-is-cultural-competence-and-why-is-it-important-for-school-nutrition-professionals

Michelle, yes, this is our last community of practice call — we’ll share some ways to stay in touch at the end of the call.

Charlie Hoffs (she/her) - student and co-lead of youth-led food justice organization unBox! (https://www.unboxproject.org/) Excited to be here and learn from you all!

Happy Pride! <3

Thank you SO much fro including Pride Month in your presentation today! You did not have to do that but you did!! Very impressive as an organization. You guys rock!

Good Morning! Frances Montoya Food Service Director Vaughn Next Century Learning Center

Happy Pride!

Happy Pride!

https://www.lunchassist.org/ARBootCamp

re: appropriations act - are these only in effect through September 30, 2021?

Chicken from China?! Really?

USDA Waiver #97: https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/COVID-Admin-Review-Seamless-Summer-SY-2021-2022.pdf

We were told that the certification is to be signed by the vendor and we just need to require it as part of our bid documents

And update our procurement procedures to include the prohibition

got it, thanks!

For PRO Members: Vendor Certification Template - https://www.lunchassist.org/products/the-collective/categories/3332435/posts/11271936

Can they also ban factory-farmed chicken from the commodity program? HA

Thank you to the LunchAssist team for all the information and support over the past year-plus! Deirdre Kleske, County of San Diego HHSA

Can you put up the link for the vendors to signe

Orlando - here you go: https://www.lunchassist.org/products/the-collective/categories/3332435/posts/11271936

Thank you.

CDE Confirmed bulk items from April 2020 must be prepared --

This is what was shared with me as the language to justify the bulk updates https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/SP13-2020s-a.pdf

bulk

Thank you Kat. CDE doesn't understand that serving cooked rice and pasta is a potentially hazardous food!!

^whoops! Sent ‘bulk’ in the comments in error! Sorry!

Thank you

For inspiration on cooked rice and pasta, please take a look at Korean convenience innovations. They have cooked rice and pasta down to a perfect science!

Yes please send out the Pro/Con for alternate income form

LCFF is so much easier. We set it up in a google form and send a link to parents who need to complete them.

Meal Applications vs. Alt. Income Forms: Pros & Cons - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X8lLxYLJBF8Z93BfsCK9IzmRXZqJ4gRS/view?usp=sharing

Sign on to support School Meals for All in CA Budget: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmUk6TQVp0pWKbN0lGBKDLG6MCbZ1auoM-_wWpB2j3f2imnA/viewform?gxids=7628Ask @CAGovernor @GavinNewsom to support #SchoolMealsForAll on social media with the toolkit here https://schoolmealsforall.org/take-actionLearn more about school meals for all https://www.ecoliteracy.org/article/school-meals-all

Does CA do direct enrollment for SNAP and other benefits? This is the most important reason to collect f/r meal applications. Second important reason is for establishing basis for community eligibility.

Thank you Abby for your work on this!

Could LunchAssist make a nice flyer that could be used to go along with Income Form, so that we could try to get more parents to fill them out? I feel like it's like trying to get parents to pull teeth.

Y 2021 Spring/Summer SNP Checklist: https://www.lunchassist.org/2021-spring-summer-checklist

That would be awesome!

Suzanne - yes! We’ve had this request from a few schools and are working on developing some materials

Correction: SY 2021 Spring/Summer SNP Checklist: https://www.lunchassist.org/2021-spring-summer-checklist

Budget deficit relief - does this mean help for revenue loss from March 2020 to date??

Thank you for addressing this topic!

Cultural Competence for SNPs: https://www.lunchassist.org/blog/what-is-cultural-competence-and-why-is-it-important-for-school-nutrition-professionals

Love this!

Great job on the website. The resources are so valuable.

@Jennifer great question. There’s already federal relief funding for March 2020 - June 2020 & CA state relief funding for March 2020 - August 2020 (this is the $0.75 a meal secured in last year’s budget), so I believe that this current funding for budget deficit relief would be for the 2020-21 school year, but we’re waiting to see more details in the trailer bill language.

How to Use Emergency Procurement: https://www.lunchassist.org/blog

read this blog post this morning, such a clear and helpful explanation!

Learn more about the AR Boot Camp: https://www.lunchassist.org/ARBootCamp

No Kid Hungry, Summer Meals Outreach Kit https://spark.adobe.com/page/bgZdZx6GxxBK8/No Kid Hungry, New Tips for Staffing Summer Meal Programs https://bestpractices.nokidhungry.org/resource/tips-staffing-summer-meals-program

USDA, Summer Food, Summer Moves in English and Spanish https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/summer-food-summer-moves

Nutrition Policy Institute and Purdue University, Tap Water Safety When Reopening Buildings After COVID-19 Shutdowns https://ucanr.edu/sites/NewNutritionPolicyInstitute/files/349331.pdf

Nutrition Policy Institute, Effective Access to Drinking Water in Schools https://ucanr.edu/sites/NewNutritionPolicyInstitute/files/348566.pdf

Meals4families https://meals4families.community/

Thanks Crystal.Communication can be challenging! meals4families.org makes it easy for you to connect with the families you support.Use this survey to join the Meals4Families community:https://forms.gle/cS1cz9oXBfbiuZkFAQuestions? kate@meals4families.org

National Farm to School Network, Driving Sustainable Farm to School Initiatives Through the Farm to School Institute Model https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtceqqpj4qE90vgXjAM4CyveMJypcMXD69

Food Corps, Celebrating 75 Years of the National School Lunch Program, June 8th, 10:30 PDT https://foodcorps.org/75years/

Edible Schoolyard, Virtual training to support edible educators https://edibleschoolyard.org/online-training

FRAC, Planning for Next School Year: Waivers, Meal Service Options, Best Practices and School Meal Application Outreach, June 17, noon PDT https://frac.webex.com/mw3300/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=frac&service=6&rnd=0.6459969323843283&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffrac.webex.com%2Fec3300%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26%26%26EMK%3D4832534b00000004cd769a564fed8c26c39cb28ff847c2de856f2c90795ba414880a86e75a7768ad%26siteurl%3Dfrac%26confViewID%3D192949422662889463%26encryptTicket%3DSDJTSwAAAATdBCR9G6LWcpnOPsa5wgkeLVACnPkRgT6EfGjCIYPAoA2%26

These calls were a touch of sanity during this very crazy year. Thanks so much!

Feels like the band is breaking up.... :(

THANK YOU Center for Ecoliteracy & Lunch Assist for the incredible resources and support - it's made such a difference for all of us!!

This series has been wonderful! It has inspired work here in our area and has been a wonderful source of information and practice sharing! Thank you!

<3 <3 <3 Thank you all so much!

Thank you!

We are so very thankful to you and the excellent resources your program developed to help schools across the nation.

Thank you for your expertise andcongrats on being a mom

Yes, thank you so much for all these calls!!!

Thank you for helping us navigate this challenging year! Much appreciated!!

Thank you for all the resources. It is very helpful

Thank you for Great Job congrats for the baby

Thank you. Very informative information.

THANK YOU to all of you-it's been a wonderful resource and a life raft of guidance for all of us-THANK YOU!

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Thank you :)

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So grateful to the LunchAssist team for all the guidance, hand-holding and tireless effort this past year. Thank you!!!

Thank you everyone for all your hard work and keeping us all up to date. These calls have made me feel that we can all get though these unusual times together!!

Thank you for the Amazing work to ALL huge hug

at a distance

Thanks to all of you. Especially Jenn who has gotten up in the middle of the night to be on these calls!!!!

:**) little tear. Thank you everyone!

Thank you Lunch Assist!!!

Nicely done Lunch Assist team!

You have been such a huge support during this Pandemic! Thank you, thank you, thank you

will you continue to have webinars next year/

thank you! LunchAssist is outstanding!

Thank you, ladies! So appreciative of your work and this community!

Will you be doing this next year??

Please! lol

WE wouldn't have been able to remain sane this past year without your hard work, research, support and guidance. Thank you just doesn't quite express our complete gratitude

Epic year and great silver lining.... Pisanick team loves our Lunch Assist family ❤️

Woohoo!

Thank you so much! Such a supportive group this has been

Wow that sounds great!

Thank you for all the trainings and support for our Food Service Staff. You are a great Team and amazing people and we are glad to be working with you.

Thank you All! Your hard work was such a benefit to us all! Without you I would not have been able to be as successful in feeding the students and community. Ps Lola was the best bonus of the Pandemic! Congrats Mama!

Gracias a todos

Please continue these next year-we need and look forward to these updates-thank you!

I can't wait...This is so awesome!!

https://www.lunchassist.org/blog

Gracias Ana!

What a wonderful resource you have been to so many. Thanks for your organization and communication. I wish you continued luck with your growing business.

Thank you to everyone!!.;)

LunchAssist Blog: https://www.lunchassist.org/blog

^bonus baby cute baby pic ;)

LunchAssist Community Newsletter: https://www.lunchassist.org/join

Thank you for everything!!

Lunch Assist TOTALLY rocks. Thank you for your amazing & continued support. You guys are hero's too :)

LunchAssist Community Calls: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlcuqhpzwsHNU0KhzjVciITuEQNOxd9PsK\

You all are amazing! Thank you for your resources :)

Wow - she is so cute!!!!

LunchAssist PRO: www.lunchassist.org/join

This is great...Lunch Assist rocks!!

LOLA is the cutest baby!

LunchAssist AR Boot Camp: www.lunchassist.org/ARBootCamp

LOW registration numbers

California (SB county) is high, but we are offering full day kindergarten starting this fall.....

When do you anticipate the reimbursement rate to be posted for the new fiscal year?

Last year they weren't published until July

USDA: We'll clear that up.Me: HAHAHAHA

Good one Michael!!! LOL

Sharing as FYI: Our county office of education (San Diego) is advising/requesting school nutrition to be prepared to continue offering 7 days' worth of meals during SY21/22 because they are expecting the continuation and expansion of quarantines for close contacts, exposures and children that are symptomatic or test positive.

Susan Dalandan: Does CA do direct enrollment for SNAP and other benefits? This is the most important reason to collect f/r meal applications. Second important reason is for establishing basis for community eligibility.

My district will use AIF instead of applicaton. However, families need a letter to get P-EBT. Is there a sample letter?

Do you all have an resources for the new P-EBT? Marketing material

But it doesn’t go the other way, FRPM does not automatically enroll students for SNAP, if that was also part of the question:)

That's good. PA uses F/R meal applications the other direction - making sure families get SNAP, and other benefits if they are.

Dept of SS website has materials

Something to go out to parents

That’s amazing! @Susan

CAlifornia is just getting ready to launch our P-EBT materials

website: 6/24

So many questions but I can’t find notifications Q&A for parents

Yes!

The Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council has PEBT resources available that you could modify if you would like them. I am in PA. sdalandan@lvfpc.org

Thanks :)

Thanks, Susan!

Too early for some awesome CA wine???? lol

Gotta scoot to the next zoom! You ladies ROCK!!!!

Thank you, all! Have a great summer!

Haha, love it Susan!

:D

Or mimosa...

Have a Great Summer :)

Thank you!

Thank you so much!

Thank you for all of you! You have been an inspiration for our newly launched Food Pantry Community of Practice!

Thank you!

Have a great summer everyone!

Susan, it's never too early for California Wine especially from Paso Robles!

Yes! This would be awesome!

Thank you & continued health blessings!

We have worked with your Superintendent’s office to create a cover letter for the F/R application

our*

This has been a great value to us

Cover letter is a great idea

I haven't tried Paso Robles, so I will have to look for that! I like Twisted Oakk and Newsome-Harlowe!

You guys are making me thirsty!

Go Arnold/Murphy wines...

That would be great!

Got to Solvang Susan :)

Any recommendations for wineries in the Placerville area?

Im around the corner haha

Clearly we’re all ready for summer

Mickenzie drive to Santa Barbara county… its worth the drive lol

Titan has it figured out.

I used them last year.

It is Image One and Titan together.

Thank you everyone!

Thanks, Michelle! I will!

Cheers! Have a wonderful summer!

If anyone has issues with IW cut orders, Darlington has your back

Thank you have a great summer..

MySchool Apps (online apps) revamped my FR application for last year and hoping they can do something for this year

Have a great summer ladies. Jenn, have a great winter!! See you all soon

Thanks everyone! <3

"it's been real" - fav quote of the year! :)

When will we get the higher reimbursement for sso

Yes, see you later. Take care everyone!

Thank you!

@Debbie - should be on the first day of SY 21-22

But that is still being clarified