Freshampton is the School Nutrition Services of the Northampton Public School District. We are responsible for providing NPS students with breakfast and lunch each school day, as well as organizing farm to school programming for students in the classroom through connections with community organizations. Our goal at Freshampton is to provide delicious and nourishing meals to students everyday. Our dedicated kitchen staff prepare breakfast and lunch daily to provide students with fresh meals that will keep them full throughout the school day. This involves sourcing almost 30% of our produce from local farmers to get quality ingredients that support the larger Northampton community.
The public school meals system in the U.S. is complicated, and overseen by the federal government. I commend the Smith College students for trying to understand it and writing their article, “Fare Questions: Local school meals face healthy criticism,” published in the Gazette on March 15. But in an age of rampant misinformation, I want to provide our community with the most accurate information. Unfortunately, some facts were misrepresented and blame was misdirected. The Freshampton School Meals team works tirelessly to improve the school meals program, and we should be working together, as a community, for change.
Learn more about how the NPS School Nutrition Department (Freshampton) is benefitting from The Northeast Food For Schools Federal Grant Program
For our Hunger Awareness Week coverage, we visited JFK Middle School in Northampton to speak with the nutrition director for the district, Mistelle Hannah.
Northampton Public Schools | $9,366 ($36,164 FY24) Northampton, MA
Our team had the chance to visit two schools and to see (and taste!) the impact of Universal School Meals.
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – Project Bread, the state’s leading anti-hunger organization, hosted legislators and school officials at JFK Middle School Tuesday.
Dec 26, 2024 — A pilot program to provide food for food-insecure Northampton schoolchildren on weekends
While school was out in July and August, communities across the Commonwealth ensured that children still had access to healthy foods by operating summer meal programs.
The 2022-23 Massachusetts Farm to School Institute included teams from Northampton, Salem, Westport Public Schools, and Worcester Head Start. Here are some reflections from the different Institute teams about their experiences and the many initiatives they were able to implement this year!
Mistelle Hannah
Nutrition Director
mhannah@northampton-k12.us
Debbie Zuchowski
Principal Clerk
dzuchowski@northampton-k12.us
Telephone: 413-587-1487
Fax: 413-587-1495
Mailing Address: JFK Middle School
ATT: School Nutrition Department/Freshampton
100 Bridge Road, Florence, MA 01062
Non-Discrimination Statement:
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online here, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.