SnackTime Explorers

What happens when curiosity meets crunchy, colorful produce in the classroom? In this episode, we take you from curious kids tasting kiwi berries and (sometimes too-spicy) peppers to a behind-the-scenes look at the USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program—where exposure, education, and a little bit of bravery can transform lifelong eating habits. Along the way, we connect the dots between school snacks, farmer livelihoods, and big-picture health outcomes, all through the lens of SnackTime Explorers—a program turning everyday tastings into powerful moments of discovery. Get ready for stories that are equal parts hilarious, heartfelt, and a reminder that sometimes the smallest bites can spark the biggest change.

Transcript

SnackTime Explorers   Transcript

What happens when curiosity meets crunchy, colorful produce in the classroom? In this episode, we take you from curious kids tasting kiwi berries and (sometimes too-spicy) peppers to a behind-the-scenes look at the USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program—where exposure, education, and a little bit of bravery can transform lifelong eating habits. Along the way, we connect the dots between school snacks, farmer livelihoods, and big-picture health outcomes, all through the lens of SnackTime Explorers—a program turning everyday tastings into powerful moments of discovery. Get ready for stories that are equal parts hilarious, heartfelt, and a reminder that sometimes the smallest bites can spark the biggest change.

00:00:04 Michelle

Welcome to the Farm to School Podcast, where you will hear stories of how you thrive and farmers prosper when we learn how to grow, cook, and eat delicious, nutritious local foods in schools across the country.

00:00:14 Rick

And the world. Hi, everybody. We're your hosts. I'm Rick.

00:00:17 Michelle

And I'm Michelle. And today we are continuing in our epic journey of folks that we met at the 2025 National Farm to Cafeteria Conference. And I'm really excited about these two guests. And because Snack Time Explorers is a program you're going to learn about. And it's an incredible partnership with a number of people. And the two stars we met is a distributor and a person who runs the program. And it's connected to the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

00:00:47 Rick

And just wanted to say out there, not everybody knows what the Fresh Fruit and Veggie Program is. So what is it? It's also called FFVP because that's what it stands for. It's A USDA program that is available to schools in America where you, but if it's a USDA program, okay.

00:01:10 Michelle

Keep going. So fresh fruit and vegetables. You used to run the program for the state of Oregon.

00:01:15 Rick

What's that?

00:01:15 Michelle

You didn't used to run the program for the state of Oregon administratively, but your real start was as a nutrition service director.

00:01:22 Rick

It's part of the National School Lunch Program and it's In conjunction with it, you highlight a fresh fruit or vegetable every day, apart from the meal service, can't be during lunch or breakfast, and doesn't have to be local, although. It's many states that is their farm to school program because they don't have a grant or anything. And so it's like, hey, why not do it local? So you don't have to have it as a local option. But we do in Oregon. We try to encourage that as much as possible. But it's supposed to be, it's supposed to highlight a fresh fruit or veggie in its whole form could be sliced or chopped or whatever, but as close, can't be like juice or anything like that or cooked stuff. But so kids could get exposed to a fresh fruit and veggie that they don't normally get. Not like an apple or orange, but it might be something like a quince or.

00:02:19 Michelle

Kiwi berry in Oregon.

00:02:20 Rick

Kiwi berry. We have fuzzy kiwi berries that you just pop in the mouth. Right. And it's like something they don't normally see. And the cool thing is, anecdotally, they found out that we hear these stories all the time when you introduce something like that, they might sell out of that item in the grocery store the same day because the kids go home and hey, I tried this really cool thing at school and I know how to prepare it and mom and dad and I can make it for you or whatever. So it works out really well.

00:02:51 Michelle

And that's the theory of change, right? That exposure to repeated exposure coupled with education and peer modeling leads to a willingness to try and a frequency of consumption, both within the school environment and community environment.

00:03:10 Rick

So our produce guy from DNL Produce, Alex, has a story about fresh fruit and veggie program, a black radish story, which you'll hear too.

00:03:17 Michelle

And you have a story too, don't you, of a fresh fruit and vegetable program learning that you had.

00:03:24 Rick

I do. When I was a food service director at a school district, one of the things we do as a food service director is I think I had 40 schools in the school district, and I would get my food service manager, who was my dietitian in charge of the menu, Nicole Zamit. Hey, Nicole, if you're out there. We would go and visit, let's go visit six schools, in breakfast and lunch and just, we would do that every day.

00:03:50 Michelle

Every day, you just walk into a school.

00:03:51 Rick

Choose a different 6 schools or whatever. And we got to this one school And it was an immersion school. It was a Spanish immersion school, actually. And the head administrative person came running from her desk, said, oh, good, you're here. That was fast. We're glad you got here so quick. And I'm like, So you didn't plan it. No, we were just there.

00:04:17 Michelle

It's an emergency.

00:04:18 Rick

Yeah, apparently they called for us to come down, but we were just happened to be there anyway. And of course I just said, well, yeah, I came here as soon as I can. What's going on? Follow me. And we went into the office and there was a nurse's office there and there was three kiddos in there and they had their eyes were kind of teary and puffed up because they've been crying and they had red clown lips. They had red lips and I'm like, what's going on? She goes, well, your FFVP program, well, there's a population of kids there that requested, they eat habanero peppers like candy. They loved them. They just ate them, popped them in their mouth, seed and all, and they just loved them and they wanted to experience that with their kids. Well, not all kids, it turned out, had been exposed to this and were used to them. And they just popped the whole thing in their mouth. And it did not end well. They were, they were, they were, I mean, they were fine. they didn't, they'd have to go to the hospital or anything, but they were crying. And it was like, I had to really apologize and do some training with our staff said, hey, not everyone was like, maybe it's not a good idea for them just to pop a whole habanero pepper in your mouth, maybe a little tiny, tiny, tiny sliver without the seeds and have something else available, as an option, like a, nice jicama or something or something cool. But it was a good training opportunity for us and we learned a lot from that.

00:05:58 Michelle

I guess that's sometimes I just couldn't imagine actually. There's a lot of things to unpack in there, but one of being responsive to what the students request. So, leading with student voices and then the, we talk about food access and also food education, maybe coupled with not only education for the adults, but also students.

00:06:23 Rick

Those kids got educated that day. Let me tell you. They learned, and you know what? I'm so proud of them. You know, we have this thing in the farm to school world saying, don't yuck my yum and try something. But we want it to be safe for the kids too. You know, that we don't want it to be painful, a painful lesson. So…

00:06:45 Michelle

We are going to learn from our special guests today a whole lot of lessons and hope you all enjoy.

00:06:51 Christy Sherding

Hello, Alex and Shannon. This is Michelle and Christy. We are coming to you from a hallway in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference 2025.  And we are here to learn a little bit more about Snack Time Explorers, fresh produce, all the things.

00:07:10 Michelle

And we've talked to different people from all the different touch points of Farm to School, but I was so excited to meet up with you two as vendors, distributors, and.

00:07:19 Christy Sherding

This is really going to be your next.

00:07:21 Michelle

Please each introduce yourselves and tell us what you're up to.

00:07:24 Shannon Fitzgerald

Sure, I'll go. I'm Shannon Fitzgerald. I am a dietitian, so happy to be at this conference with like-minded people. We all have common threads here. We're just elevating each other. So it is a wonderful experience here. So Snack Time Explorers, let's talk Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, commonly known as FFVP in school meal circles. So the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program is a new, it's like a baby program. And there's just so much opportunity for our kids to have access to fresh produce through that program. But what the Snack Time Explorers program does do is blend that with food education for teachers. So it is, I'll speak for my old school nutrition director hat. It is like a win-win-win for schools, for students, for communities, getting that access of produce in along with food education. So something I'm super proud to be part of, D&O Produce. along with Pilot Light. I'll kick it to Alex.

00:08:35 Alex DiNovo

Yeah, thank you guys so much for inviting us to speak in this lovely hallway with you.

00:08:40 Christy Sherding

Only the best for our guests. Are you kidding me?

00:08:42 Shannon Fitzgerald

Swapping out the ice machine is what we're going to. Yeah, might be. It's okay.

00:08:47 Alex DiNovo

And Shannon didn't give her full credentials. She's also with the Institute of Child Nutrition, a fantastic organization that does amazing work in this space. But my name is Alex DeNovo and I'm president of DNO Produce. So we're a fruit and vegetable distributor as well as a fresh cut processor. So distributor meaning we bring in full truckloads of product, think of like a truckload of lettuce, bring it into Columbus, Ohio and distribute it throughout our 900 mile distribution radius. That's about 30% of our business is that middleman type business. Then about 70% of our business is fresh cut processors. So we chop, slice, dice, package fresh fruits and vegetables for consumption. And a lot of the work that we do is in the K-12 space. So we work with federally subsidized programs like the DOD Fresh Program, and as Shannon just mentioned, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which is one of my favorite programs. I also have seven children, all little kids. Right, I know. Seven kids, seven kids between the ages of three and 14. Five girls, two boys, no twins.

00:09:50 Michelle

White eyes, emojis everywhere.

00:09:51 Alex DiNovo

Yeah, no twins and all.

00:09:54 Christy Sherding

This is when you wish you had it filmed, right? Congratulations.

00:09:56 Alex DiNovo

I don't know, condolences maybe. But yeah, all, no twins and all with my wife Kristen. So we have our hands full, but it's my own little focus group to use a lot of times for some of these programs. But there's really this program is so important, impactful and special because as Shannon mentioned, it gives kids not only the access to fruits and vegetables in the classroom. So this isn't part of the school lunch program or start of the school breakfast program. It's actually served in the classroom where the kids get to taste a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. And then also there's an education component that goes along with it. So the kids get to learn through the food. This is elementary school kids. This program's funded at around just under $250 million per year. And it's specifically for higher free and reduced districts, so children that otherwise wouldn't have access to this product. And if we think about some of the things as a country that we're dealing with, diet-related diseases, and things of that nature. If we're going to make America healthy again, if we're going to change the trajectory of human health, it absolutely starts with children, undoubtedly. It's a culture shift we're talking about. So you have to start with children. It has to involve fruits and vegetables because that's a major part of diet, right? And then also education is extremely important. If you think about kids consuming food in the classroom and learning through it, they're going to take those experiences with them and it really does make a difference. And even small, incremental differences, just kids becoming more accepting of fruits and vegetables, more willing to try new fruits and vegetables, makes a difference throughout their lifetime. It gives them the access now. Children are a primary market. We can give kids access to fruits and vegetables right now. That's going to make a difference. They're a secondary market because they're going to influence their friends, parents, grandparents, and influence their purchasing and eating decisions. And then also they're a tertiary market because they're going to grow up. And if they're more accustomed, more comfortable with fruits and vegetables, they're going to consume more throughout their lifetime. And through doing things like that, we can increase lifespan, the amount of time people live, their health span, the amount of time they can enjoy the things that they're doing while they're alive. And we can also do it at a much cheaper cost because we spend a lot of money on treating diseases, diet-related diseases, after they've already gotten a foothold rather than preventing them. And diet plays a big role. And within diet, produce plays a big role. So yeah, it's an awesome thing to be a part of, for sure.

00:12:21 Michelle

I vote for you.

00:12:22 Christy Sherding

Yep, me too.

00:12:25 Alex DiNovo

Alex is like, what are you talking about?

00:12:30 Michelle

Seriously, are you going to run for office?

00:12:32 Alex DiNovo

You're not the first person to ask me that. Actually, somebody texted me this morning and he's like, you should run for office for this seat. I'm like, I'm not good. No, I don't think so.

00:12:40 Michelle

I've never met you before.

00:12:41 Christy Sherding

I know.

00:12:42 Michelle

And I just vibed it from you.

00:12:43 Alex DiNovo

Let me go on my, all right, let me give you a little statistical. So if I was, here's what I would say. You know how much money we spend? As a society, percentage of our GDP on health care.

00:12:54 Christy Sherding

Please tell our listeners.

00:12:55 Alex DiNovo

Just take a guess. What do you think it is?

00:12:56 Christy Sherding

How much we spend on health care?

00:12:58 Alex DiNovo

GDP, the percentage of our GDP or dollars, whatever you want to say. And this is health care, like…

00:13:04 Christy Sherding

For our listening audience.

00:13:07 Alex DiNovo

I'm trying to Google it up really quickly. Do we spend on health care?

00:13:12 Shannon Fitzgerald

AI 45%.

00:13:12 Christy Sherding

I don't know a lot.

00:13:14 Alex DiNovo

Not a lot. It's a lot. It's not quite 45%.

00:13:16 Christy Sherding

I made a squishy face because it was a bad answer.

00:13:20 Alex DiNovo

Think about everything we spend money on is a…

00:13:23 Christy Sherding

Everything we spend money on.

00:13:25 Alex DiNovo

Roughly 18%. Eighteen percent's a lot. It's $4.5 trillion, 4.5 trillion with a T, $4.5 trillion. And if you look at the the part of that $4.5 trillion, if you look at the non-communicable diseases, this part of that, approximately 80% of the non-communicable disease portion of that $4.5 trillion can be tied to diet-related diseases, which is hugely expensive.

00:13:50 Christy Sherding

Talking like food is medicine, right?

00:13:52 Alex DiNovo

Absolutely. I think food is, you know, food is medicine, food is family, food is health. food is love. Know what I mean? And as a society, we've gotten further and further away.

00:14:03 Christy Sherding

Michelle just held up a sign that says, I vote for you.

00:14:06 Alex DiNovo

As a society, we've gotten further away from food. And really, we have to, in order to be more connected to food and to each other, I think we need to start early and start with children. That's why programs like the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program are so important to continue investing in.

00:14:20 Christy Sherding

How did it start? Snack Time Explorers. I should have clarified. Snack Time Explorers. Is that a program that you guys started? 

00:14:32 Shannon Fitzgerald

We did. I feel like I'm bogarting the mic.

00:14:34 Christy Sherding

No, please. I was like, how did you do it? I want to know more. Yeah, we need to know more about all of it.

00:14:37 Alex DiNovo

So we had always participated in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program and it started off very small. And ever since it first got started, we had been supplying school districts and distributors with items specific for that program. And one of the first pain points that we came across was there wasn't enough items being offered. The idea was to introduce children to new and different items to build curiosity and to get them comfortable with fruits and vegetables. So that was the first pain point that we addressed. And so we have over 150 different items that we offer through that. I mean, things like mango, dragon fruit. you name it. I mean, literally everything we've tried through this process.  Some stuff works, some stuff doesn't. But we addressed that pain point. And then the second pain point was the education piece, because this leaves the lunchroom jurisdiction, if you will, and enters the classroom. So it leaves the school food service department and enters the education department. And there's a natural, I don't want to say, I guess, a rub that exists because the teachers, they got a lot to do. They're teaching and they're like, this is one more thing I got to do in the classroom and there's trash associated with it as far as cleaning up. The janitors get upset and it's just one more thing I got to do. So this was a pain point. We said, how do we address this? How do we help these schools put something in place, some sort of curriculum or something like that? So we were on a White House, remember the White House conference on hunger, nutrition, and health like three or four years ago, whenever that was.

00:15:55 Michelle

Yes.

00:15:56 Alex DiNovo

So they had a pre-conference. I meant more enthusiastic. Yes. They had like a pre-conference call and the executive director of a food education nonprofit, Alex DeSorbo Quinn, She's the executive director of Pilot Light, was on the call as well. And she was describing what they did and how they taught through food. And so I was like, I'll reach out to her on LinkedIn. So I did. I said, hey, in Chicago, every once in a while, why don't we meet up? And we met up and I'm like, I like what you guys do and this is what we do and maybe you could help us. And we actually ended up co-creating a program that Shannon mentioned called Snack Time Explorers and that's how it got started.

00:16:33 Christy Sherding

I love that.

00:16:34 Shannon Fitzgerald

Yeah, and I'll just say too, I heard Alex and Alex present at a conference and my mind was like, yes, this is what we need. And again, I was speaking through the lens of actually being in a school district and knowing that those, there were gaps. There were gaps with what we could do with nutrition education. And these two, Pilot Light and D&O Produce, put things together that make things easy for a food service department and operation to put together and then elevate our program as nutrition services and reach across the kind of heart and soul of a school, which I think is the kitchen, but then the classroom is like the heart and soul for the students. So it just does make sense and bridges that gap that is there. So I was like on to them just as Alex reached out to Alex DeSorbo Quinn. I reached out to Alex and also he's just a connector. So yeah, he's helped out in so many ways, just even with he hosted dieticians. He's just always eager and interested to learn more and bridge those gaps, bridge those gaps and be a solution maker. So it's pretty cool.

00:17:50 Michelle

And so Shannon, what's your daily role look like in this?

00:17:54 Shannon Fitzgerald

So, and I'll just say I am a, I serve as a consulting partner. I'm new to this role. My predecessor and Alex implemented this so I get to hold on to their tailcoat strings for a little bit as I learn more. But then I'm just a conduit for food service directors and then connecting the teachers for learning. So it just feels good. It feels like it's bridging my professional gap with the nutrition operators and then connecting them with teachers and the cohorts through pilot light. So it's great.

00:18:39 Michelle

Well, and that's such a critical role because often, different professions speak different languages and can even use the same word to mean different things. And it seems like you're really good. You're in that role of bridging that.

00:18:51 Shannon Fitzgerald

Yeah, I mean, I love that role. Just having sat in a school district, I know those different dynamics that go on in a school building and even within a school district, the different buildings can have different dynamics. So it is about reaching some common ground and weaving those common threads and discovering some champions that can really lead the effort and buy into it and then it spreads. It's like the influencers can spread great things and that's what's going on with Snack Time Explorers.

00:19:23 Michelle

So how do you find that champion?

00:19:26 Shannon Fitzgerald

Yeah, so again, we depend on the school district to champion the effort. So how do you find it? You just, even in the hallway here, you can find it. You can find it at the hallway of the farm to cafeteria conference. 

00:19:43 Christy Sherding

You could throw a stone and hit someone who would be willing to help.

00:19:46 Shannon Fitzgerald

Yeah, so there's a lot of people out there that are looking for solutions that are eager to try new and different things that realize and understand that more can be done and they want to be the change makers. They want to be on the right side of the curve like Alex stated. We're all in this together. We want to elevate kids access. We want everyone to have access to food. We want to nourish food. We want to create a healthier generation. So that's where it comes from.

00:20:21 Christy Sherding

So you're talking about kids trying different and new things. What was the most surprising thing that you've incorporated into your Snack Time Explorers program? Was it like mangoes, star fruit, dragon fruit, those type of things? Was there something that really kind of surprised you that the kids gravitated towards?

00:20:37 Alex DiNovo

Thank you. It's my first one today.

00:20:39 Shannon Fitzgerald

I was really excited.

00:20:40 Michelle

I was like, yeah, Christy, it's a great question.

00:20:43 Alex DiNovo

We've tried so many different items, you know, a lot of local items, trying those out. This one, I don't think, this wasn't a favorite, but it's my favorite, because I think it was really funny. Well, before I say this one, I'll get to this in a second, because it is funny.  We pair a lot of items up with holidays or events or stuff like that. So we do like blood oranges for, Halloween. And the kids go, that's so many or pink pineapple for Valentine's Day and stuff like that. But one time we wanted one of the sales people wanted to try these black radishes. because they were spicy and the kids would like spicy. these black radishes were like, they're like, I love spicy stuff, so they didn't affect me that much, but it's like lava hot. And they're so hot. And we gave them to like a classroom of second graders or something like that. And the teacher wrote back that some of them were crying.

00:21:38 Christy Sherding

Oh my gosh, you brought them to tears. Black radish.

00:21:42 Alex DiNovo

But I mean, at least they experienced it.

00:21:44 Michelle

Are you sure you want us to record that?

00:21:47 Alex DiNovo

Maybe not. It's a great story though. It is funny though. That was funny. I would say, all right, so something that was really interesting that we tried, let me think, that I was surprised with. I've been really surprised how many children like grapefruit. Because typically grapefruit aren't something that kids a lot of times grapefruit get a bad rap.

00:22:08 Christy Sherding

Like the texture, maybe?

00:22:09 Alex DiNovo

There's a little bit of bitterness factor, to grapefruit. So I've been surprised that kids have really liked that. I mean, the ones that the fruit are a lot easier to sell than the vegetables because there's a lot more sweetness in fruit. But I've been surprised by how many kids try the different vegetables. And we do pre and post research and reporting in these classrooms. And what I've been surprised by is how much of an impact it actually makes.. yes, on the kids, but also on the instructors, on the teachers that say, like, this is a valuable use of my time. And that's the biggest pain point that we were trying to alleviate was to get the teacher buy-in, because that's critical, because no program is going to work unless it's got buy-in from all sides. And that's been the biggest thing that really has made a difference is that, you know, it's a turnkey system that actually makes a USDA program work. So we're proud of it, and we want to keep doing what we're doing. And we actually did make a commitment to the White House, the previous White House, And we're still going to honor that commitment to roll it out to all 2.7 million students that participate in FFVP across the country.

00:23:10 Christy Sherding

Snaps to that.

00:23:11 Michelle

Finger snaps, finger snaps. Radicchio.

00:23:15 Alex DiNovo

We have done Radicchio, yes. We've done Radicchio. I don't remember… I don't remember the specifics of it.

00:23:22 Michelle

I just think Radicchio is having a moment, at least in the Pacific Northwest. Is it elsewhere in the country?

00:23:27 Christy Sherding

In Michigan, we did a whole, there was like a whole farm-to-table dinner that featured Radicchio at this place called Coriander.

00:23:32 Michelle

I'd be on Radicchio with you before Christine.

00:23:34 Christy Sherding

Yes, we have shared Radicchio.

00:23:35 Alex DiNovo

It's got such a neat color to it. You know what I mean? It's a beautiful, beautiful vegetable.

00:23:39 Michelle

There's a lot of different colors.

00:23:41 Christy Sherding

Yellow, is it yellow watermelon? I bought, so I made this mistake. It was pre-cut at the grocery store. And I was like, I didn't know what, I thought it was pineapple. We were going on a boat and I was like, I don't have time to cut a pineapple. I'm going to buy this. I'm in the grocery store. And then the kids are on the float off of our boat, off the boat. And they're like, this is not pineapple. This is watermelon, mom. My nine-year-old son looks at me and goes, did you not read the label? Oh my God.

00:24:14 Shannon Fitzgerald

You can get the pink pineapple to change things up.

00:24:18 Christy Sherding

Is there a pink pineapple? Okay. I have a pineapple for it.

00:24:22 Alex DiNovo

Oh yeah, we've done, that's actually a really popular one, the pink pineapple. We do it around Valentine's Day.

00:24:26 Christy Sherding

And I bet is it like surprising to the kiddos like that because they think.

00:24:30 Alex DiNovo

It's watermelon, just like your kid thought it was pineapple.

00:24:35 Christy Sherding

It wasn't the kids, it was me.

00:24:38 Michelle

Because you weren't part of the…

00:24:40 Christy Sherding

I was not part of Snack Time Explorers.

00:24:42 Shannon Fitzgerald

So we needed to have, and we all with Snack Time Explorers, the kids get a passport, which is what they love. It's just an interactive passport for them to mark off what they've had.  So it's, yeah...

00:24:56 Christy Sherding

That's super playful and fun.

00:24:58 Michelle

How did they mark it off?

00:25:00 Shannon Fitzgerald

It depends on how the teacher wants to implement it. So lots of different ways. Yeah, exactly.

00:25:05 Michelle

That's what I wasn't sure. You had cute vegetable characters, for example.

00:25:10 Alex DiNovo

Yes, we do have little vegetable characters, but they, and then Pilot Light has Paprika, their famous mascot that has the funniest voice. The kids love to listen to it as it dances and runs around and does its thing. But the thing that we've seen, another really cool thing about FFVP, and I think what the spirit of FFVP is, if you will, is to encourage kids to try different things and influence their families, like I was saying earlier. And we've even seen it influence the lunch line where kids tried a different fruit or vegetable in the fresh fruit and vegetable program, and then they lobbied their school food service staff to serve that item in the lunch line, which is awesome. I mean, that's increasing consumption, which is what we need to do.

00:25:49 Michelle

Yeah, we saw that with kiwi berries in Oregon, for example. it's like kiwi berries. It was part of the fresh fruit and vegetable program.

00:25:57 Shannon Fitzgerald

Yeah, and I'll equate what Alex just said to even when the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act came into being, and that's when I was in a school district, and the younger kids, they didn't know any different. It was no big deal to them. No big changes, whole grains, all the different subgroups of vegetables. And by the time those kids were in high school, this was just commonplace. So that's what we're getting at for fruit and vegetable access is like, yes, this is of course access. And yes, I have had food education on this fruit and vegetable. So I'm, yeah, this is creating the next generation of food literacy.

00:26:37 Michelle

I really like that. I love that too. I know it's time to go to our next session wrapping up here, but is there anything else you want to share with our audience?

00:26:46 Alex DiNovo

You know, I just kind of echo what I stated at the beginning when we just started off is that, you know, we really do have an issue with diet-related disease in this country that costs us a lot of money. And there's not one silver bullet that's going to fix or alleviate the issue, but I think that a multi-pronged approach needs to incorporate more programs like the fresh fruit and vegetable program that'll influence behavior over time, because we are talking about really a culture shift that can get people to live longer lives, healthier lives, and save taxpayer dollars. And to me, it seems like a common sense approach to focus on a preventative type measure rather than a reactionary type measure.

00:27:27 Michelle

When does your youngest turn 18?

00:27:30 Alex DiNovo

15 years from now.

00:27:32 Michelle

Okay, we're going to be looking for you on the campaign trail.

00:27:35 Christy Sherding

Yeah, right.

00:27:35 Michelle

2040.

00:27:38 Christy Sherding

I was like, calculator, 45%. It's been a long day.

00:27:45 Alex DiNovo

With that many kids, I don't know if I'll make it that long. I don't know.

00:27:48 Shannon Fitzgerald

We'll see. You have to.

00:27:51 Christy Sherding

Food is medicine. Veggies are medicine.

00:27:53 Michelle

Thank you so much for making time and sharing your stories. Really appreciate you and all the hard work that you do.

00:27:59 Alex DiNovo

Thank both of you. Yeah, thank both of you for allowing us to share our thoughts. Thank you so much.

00:28:04 Shannon Fitzgerald

Great to be here.

00:28:07 Rick

Hey, we'd like to thank everybody listening today, and we'd like to thank Shannon and Alex for being guests. And thank you again, Christy Sherding, for being our amazing co-host.

00:28:18 Michelle

And The Farm to School was written, directed, and produced by Rick Sherman. That's him and Michelle. With production support from Leanne Lochner and Lauren Toby of Oregon State University, this podcast was made possible in part from a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.

00:28:35 Rick

The content and ideas for the Farm to School podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Oregon State University or the United States Department of Agriculture. USDA and Oregon State University are equal opportunity providers and employers.

00:28:50 Michelle

Learn more about Farm to School and check out our other episodes, show notes, and contact information at farmtoschoolpodcast.org.

00:28:57 Rick

We would love to hear from you. Stop by and say hi. Give us an idea for a future podcast, everyone.

00:29:02 Michelle

Or tell us about a fresh fruit and vegetable offering you had that went well or didn't. We would love to hear that and add it to the show notes. Hey, put a link in the show notes to like a shared Google Doc.  All right, we'll do that. We're gonna try it.

00:29:19 Rick

We're gonna try it.

00:29:19 Michelle

We're gonna try this.

00:29:20 Rick

We'll put that in there. Put in your comments and I'll put a link to the fresh fruit and veggie program for the USDA too. Okay, thanks everybody.

00:29:30 Rick

Bye bye.