TSD Nutrition Services Newsletter

Welcome to the Spring 2025 Edition of the Nutrition Services Newsletter! We're excited to bring you updates including local food news, Summer EBT 2025 information, upcoming events and so much more. With spring in full swing, we're excited to finish out the 2024-2025 school year strongly, and get geared up for what's to come in the 2025-2026 school year!

We have started offering smoothies at our middle and high schools to students! They were originally being served two days a week, but with growing popularity they're now being served every day of the school week. The flavor that is being offered each week rotates as well. This is all thanks to a a grant from Dairy Max that allows us to serve our students delicious smoothies for breakfast, and provide them the proper fuel to better learn through the first half of their school day. Be sure to check out what smoothie flavor is being offered at your school each week for breakfast!

We've partnered with Snowden Meats, located in Yampa, Colorado, to bring us their premium pasture-fed beef! We're excited to announce that this high-quality beef has been added to our menu and the product made its debut on our burrito bars late last semester. Be sure to check out our Instagram and Facebook to see the fun video that showcases the journey of this beef! In the video, you'll get an inside look at the ranch where the cattle are raised, the cooking process at one of our high schools, and the final product served at our burrito bars at secondary schools.

For the later half of this semester, we're welcoming Harvest Moon Baking Company into our growing list of local growers and producers. Harvest Moon bread is made with all Colorado ingredients and the guys that own the company are pretty cool too! Local purchasing boosts our economy and supports local producers. Food travels less miles, making it a better choice for the environment. Most importantly it provides the kids with the best nutrition and a delicious tasting bun!

National School Breakfast Week typically falls around the same time as Dr. Seuss' birthday, so we celebrated both at the same time! We served Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast on Tuesday, March 4th. It's so fun to offer something out of the ordinary. How did those eggs get so green? Fresh spinach!

Yes you heard that right! Meals are free for all students regardless of income or application status this year thanks to the Healthy School Meals for All program. Even though meals are free for all students, parents are still asked to submit a Free and Reduced Meal Application, as there are still plenty of benefits to submitting one for your students.

There are ongoing questions about the funding for the HSMA program and funding sustainability leading into the 2025-2026 school year. We'll be sending out more information regarding these questions and concerns as soon as we receive more information and updates on the future of the HSMA program.

Even though meals are free for all students regardless of meal application status or income status, we are still asking parents to submit meal applications for their kids. There are still great benefits to submitting a meal application for this school year!

The HSMA program is funded in partnership with federal nutrition programs that rely on that income information to support meals for ALL students. Other state and federal grants for schools are awarded based on free and reduced meal eligibility rates - this could mean more money for your school! Plus, families who qualify may receive discounted or waived school fees, sports fees, utilities support and more.

**All household income information is confidential and will not be shared without your consent.**

To submit an application, click on the button below!

**As a reminder, the meal application is an annual form that families are asked to fill out each school year. New meal applications for the 2025-2026 school year will be released sometime in late July 2025. More information will come out separately at a later date.**

Summer EBT is available for eligible students in 2025! Summer EBT helps families buy food during the summer months. If you qualify, your family will receive $40 per child/per month to purchase groceries with funds placed on an EBT card. That amounts up to $120 per eligible child.

You are eligible if your school aged children participate in...

• SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid OR...
• Your child qualifies for free or reduced lunches based on income

For the 2024-2025 school year, we welcomed a new software system called Linq Connect that provides everyone with better access to our resources. Linq Connect offers parents, students, and staff a consolidated place to check out our menu, apply for meal benefits, check on meal account balances, and more!

Learn more by visiting the Linq Connect website by clicking the button below!

Summer Food 2025 is approaching quickly! We'll plan to release more information separately once we know Summer Food locations, dates, and more. Please keep an eye out for your email and our social media pages for more information on Summer Food in the next few weeks.

Taste of Thompson will be an event held in the fall to showcase some of our delicious menu items and highlight the local foods we offer to our students. The date and time are to be determined, so watch our website for more information!

Get connected and stay connected with us on Instagram and Facebook! We post what's new and what's happening within the department across all of the kitchens in the district. Check out our Instagram page and Facebook page using the buttons below to get the latest information on what we're serving and more information on Farm to School during the fall semester!

Need something to do when the kids go back to school in the fall? Or just looking for a new, exciting job and want to work with awesome people? We've got great news for you! Later this summer, we'll be hiring for multiple positions in our kitchens in preparation for the 2025-2026 school year. Be able to work the same schedule as your kids, have holidays and weekends off, AND still have most of your afternoons to yourself all while making a difference in your school district.

Keep your eyes peeled for any future hiring info and potential job fair information on our social media pages. We'll be posting hiring information as the 2025-2026 school year approaches.

• Email: nutrition@tsd.org
• Phone: 970-613-5146
• Website: TSD Nutrition Services

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.