For 10 weeks from May 22-July 31, 2020, Purdue Extension-Delaware County (Laurynn Thieme and Lindsey Cox) and Muncie Food Hub Partnership (Dr. Josh Gruver of Ball State University) partnered with Prairie Farms to distribute 9,000 gallons of milk in Delaware, Randolph, Blackford, and Jay counties during rounds 1 and 2 of the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program. During mid-June through July, Wes-Del High School of Liberty-Perry School District in Selma, IN, provided use of their walk-in cooler to store 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of milk per week. The school also served as a pick-up location for local service organizations that distributed the milk to their guests. During those 10 weeks, 716 gallons of milk were distributed to school families through Liberty-Perry Schools’ summer lunch program.
Purdue Extension had an existing relationship with the school food service director, Brenda Layne, thanks to creating a school garden in 2019 through the Growing Together Garden mini-grant where almost 200 pounds of produce was grown and used in school meals. All students at Selma Elementary were involved in seeding and planting seedlings in the spring of 2019. Some after-school students were able to help harvest produce and plant more seeds in late summer for the fall 2019 crop. The garden took a hiatus during 2020 due to COVID-19, but they are looking to expand and use the park
again in 2021.