Funding/Grants for healthy school lunches pilot project (X-posted in N&GE)

[DesertFlower]

I am starting to put together a proposal for a pilot project to have healthy lunches served at school. Our school is in a rural area, has only about 50 kids, many of them who come from vegetarian/vegan/health-minded families. Many are low-income. Currently, we have no school lunch program, so we are looking to do a pilot program over 3 months (13 weeks), serving hot lunches 2-3 times a week. We would be using the local Senior Center to prepare the food, and would transport it to the school (a 3-minutes drive).  If the project is successful, the next step would be to raise funds to build a commercial kitchen on school premises. Right now, I am starting to look into funding and grants for the pilot project. Do any of you know of funding/grants for such a project? Or have any experience leading such a project?

[lindberg99]

Are you in the US? If so, the USDA funds a free breakfast and lunch program here during the summer so maybe check there. There also is a healthy lunch grant in our schools that I think is funded by the NFL. It is called "Fuel up to play 60"

Hopefully those will at least be a starting point for you. Good luck!

[velochic]

I am a development coordinator (grant writing and fundraising).  What you are talking about is a pilot project that leads into a capital project... a capital project that will be years in the making.  You need to do some research on fundraising and grants.  Your library probably has resources to help.  When you say you are "putting together a proposal", I think you are jumping the gun.  Every grant has a different set of criteria for submitting a proposal.  You need to just get together what is called the "needs".  Gather all of the information about the WHY you are doing this, then when you get that defined, you can search for grants that fit your need.  Good luck.