Pick Named President of MSNA

FOLEY -- A local school nutritionist has been named President of the Minnesota School Nutrition Association.

Cheryl Pick, the school nutritionist at Foley Public Schools, has spent the last two years as the association’s vice-president.

Get our free mobile app

She says most schools are facing another year of high food costs and uncertain supply.

We are still facing difficulty with soaring food prices and supply chain disruptions that have made it increasingly difficult to work within our needs. Every district has different needs. Our vendors or manufacturers are doing the best that they can to help us through this situation. However, they say they don't have enough employees to make the product or to meet the demands that are there for us either.

Pick says a focus this year will be buying more food locally, thanks to a new federal program that assists schools with those purchases. Pick has been buying locally for more than a decade in Foley.

We are purchasing a lot of items locally from four farmers that are within a five-mile radius of our districts. In the fall of the year, we are purchasing all types of fresh fruits and vegetables for our students. And last spring, I also purchased some local beef from an FFA member and had it processed by Grand Champion meats.

School nutritionists statewide are excited to try out new products and recipes this year as the students head back to school.