At Clyattville, the students get two fruits and one vegetable each week. For the first three weeks of the program at Clyattville Elementary, the fresh food was being given out five days a week. Starting the first of October, the school has moved to three days a week to ensure there will be enough money left in the grant to provide food for the rest of the school year.

The program now runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

J.L. Lomax and J.L. Newbern receive their snacks on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Both the elementary schools serve their snacks in the afternoon, while the middle school has two grades that serve them in the morning and one in the afternoon.

“We chose to serve it after lunch because at the end of the day needy children might not have as much to eat at night,” Akins said. “We want to send them home with food in their tummy.”

Having the kids try the food in the classroom among their peers as a snack makes a student more likely to eat the food than at lunch or breakfast, Akins said.

“In a classroom situation, the teacher is saying this is good for you and talking about the benefits of the food,” Akins said. “In a small, supervised group, the child is more likely to try it because they are being encouraged by someone they know.”

At lunch, each grade picks up a plastic basket with its class’s fruit or vegetable serving and takes it back to the room for the afternoon snack at Clyattville.

Teachers in the fourth- and fifth-grade have their items already portioned out to ensure valuable learning time is not lost. For the lower grades, the snack is used as a learning lesson on the benefits of a good meal, Akins said.

There is no limit to the serving size, and in the case of peaches and apples, students receive a whole piece of fruit.

They have also received an asparagus stalk and a bunch of broccoli.

To encourage the eating of the vegetables, the grant allows the schools to supply the children with low-fat dressing to spice up the vegetables.

The grant allows the system to fund a staff member an extra hour every day to come in and prepare the food for consumption, Flesher said.

The system has $30,000 to administer the program for one year at the middle school, Flesher said.

Once the food is ordered, the program pays back the school from the invoice, Akins said.