Matt Belasco, director of nutrition services for the Pittsburg Unified School District, recently received a 2015 California Food for California Kids Innovation Award for creating “California Thursdays,” in which six districts use their joint purchasing power to buy healthy, regionally grown food.
The biennial award was presented by the Center for Ecoliteracy—a nonprofit that promotes ecological education—that helped coordinate the program.
Belasco noted that he wanted to be an “innovative county” so that other districts could see this level of collaboration was possible.
"[Although] it takes work, anything is possible, especially when you work together. We have a smaller carbon footprint because we're not driving trucks across the country to bring the same food that we can produce here. There are just so many carryovers that happen because we are purchasing locally and really focusing our energies and commitments here in California," he said in a statement.