Imperial County sits along the border with Mexico in California’s southeastern corner. Known as the nation’s “winter salad bowl,” this region produces half of all the winter vegetables grown in the United States. But despite its highly productive agricultural industry, local communities still struggle with access to healthy, affordable food.

Helping Hands Active Knights (HHAK) was a multi-year YPAR initiative formed at Meadows Union K-8 Elementary School located in the desert about 5 miles east of El Centro and surrounded by agricultural fields. The HHAK team worked with staff from Imperial County’s University of California Cooperative Extension office in collaboration with CalFresh Healthy Living, UC and the local After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program to focus on issues related to food access, nutrition and physical activity.

For their first year, HHAK members researched the issue of low physical fitness levels and inadequate physical activity equipment at their school. During their second year, the team of 14 6th, 7th and 8th grade students chose to build upon their initial success by focusing on food waste in their cafeteria. HHAK members started by auditing their own eating habits. They then conducted a plate waste study in their cafeteria to assess the total quantity of food typically thrown away by students during lunch time. For this research effort, they used observation and photography to document their peers’ actions during an entire lunch period and measured the amount of fruits and vegetables each student chose to throw away that day. Overall, they processed and weighed the leftover food items from 363 lunch trays.

HHAK members discovered that their school of less than 500 students threw away 53.6 lbs of corn, 2.1 lbs of pineapple, 4.5 lbs of apples, 3 lbs of watermelon and 1.5 lbs of carrots during one lunch period. While some of the numbers were a bit lower than what they’d expected to see, they demonstrated how dramatically food waste can add up over time by estimating how much food would be wasted at their school in an entire academic year. They were shocked to realize that this could equate to almost 8,000 lbs of uneaten corn over the course of a school year!

For their final report, HHAK members recorded a slide presentation to share their findings and recommendations with the district superintendent and their school principal. Working with the Food Services Director, HHAK was able to get a share table installed in their cafeteria to save and redistribute unwanted food. Their efforts were also recognized at a School Board meeting at the end of the school year.

Collaborating Organization: UC Davis Center for Regional Change Putting Youth on the Map Program

Photo Credit: Chris Gomez Wong, University of California Cooperative Extension Imperial County