Scholars holding green apples in the Volney school cafeteria

Photo caption: Scholars at Volney Elementary School celebrate the Great Apple Crunch on Thursday, October 13, 2022. 

The Youngstown City School District is joining schools, early care centers, colleges, hospitals, and other organizations across the Great Lakes Region states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio in the eighth annual Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch. Participants celebrate National Farm to School Month and local farmers by crunching into Huffman Fruit Farms of Salem, Ohio apples at lunchtime on Thursday, October 13th! 

Youngstown City Schools Food Service department has purchased over 3,000 empire apples for this event. Food services are trying to support the local farmers in the area and expose our scholars to locally grown foods. The Huffman Fruit Farm in Salem, Ohio, has been in their family for four generations. They sell apples year-round and other produce during the spring, summer, and fall. The Farm raises apples, peaches, melons, asparagus, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, beets, onions, watermelon, sweet corn, green beans, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and other fruits and vegetables when in season.

This collective crunch encourages healthy eating and supports farm to school and local food initiatives throughout the Great Lakes Region. 

For more information about the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch, visit cias.wisc.edu/our-events/applecrunch/.