Nutrition Services

  • The Nutrition Services Department is dedicated to providing the highest quality food and service, in an effort to enhance the overall health and well-being of Evanston Township High School District 202 students. The department is composed of 24 food and nutrition professionals that prepare 300 breakfasts and 2000 lunches per day.  ETHS also prepares lunches daily for the District 65 elementary schools, which consists of about 1,800 lunches per day.

    The Nutrition Services program is operated under the federally funded National School Lunch Act and Child Nutrition Act. The federal laws regulating Nutrition Services programs are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture through the Illinois Department of Education. This ensures that meals and snacks are well-balanced, age-appropriate, full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and are low in fat and sodium. Members of the Nutrition Services team continually strive to improve the nutritional integrity of its breakfast and lunch programs.

    The links located on the left-hand side of this page provide practical information such as the school meal(s) menu, pre-payment options, and other interesting information about our catering program and local sourcing initiatives. For more information, please contact the Nutrition Services Department at (847) 424-7225.

    The Edible Acre is a joint initiative by InterSeed interseeding.org and Evanston Township High School. On October 8, 2009, approximately fifty ETHS students from the Horticulture, Senior Studies, Community Service and Green Team programs began installing the Edible Acre Pilot Project, a community garden designed, built and maintained by ETHS students in collaboration with community groups and the surrounding neighborhood.

    Edible Acre 1 is a converted vacant lot across from the high school's main entrance on Dodge Avenue. It has become a 5,000 sq. ft. organic vegetable and flower garden that consists of 29 - 4’ x 12’ raised beds growing over 40 varieties of crops. Along with the raised beds, the garden also has a 150 ‘ hedge row of native flowers and pollinator habitat, a 3 bin composting system for all the garden's plant matter, tool storage, picnic tables for class room area and also a vegetable washing station. This garden provides learning experiences to hundreds of students annually and summer jobs for 5-8 students. This garden site has grown approximately 2,500 pounds of produce annually since 2012.

    Edible Acre 2 + Orchard Garden was built in 2015 on Church St just west of the ETHS Football stadium. This garden consists of 14 - 4’x16’ raised beds, a 125’ native shrub planting, a grape covered pergola with picnic tables for gathering, a three-bin compost system and a 30 fruit tree orchard growing apples and pears. Edible Acre 2 produces approximately 1500 lbs of vegetables and fruits annually since 2014.

     

    Greenhouse: In the summer of 2014, the Nutrition Services Department took over the responsibility of the school greenhouse. It is currently a fully functional greenhouse growing hundreds of pounds of produce (arugula, kale, chard, peppers, cut flowers) annually. In 2019, the greenhouse was further renovated with LED lighting, irrigation and proper ventilation. The “head” house of the greenhouse serves as a classroom space for the horticultural classes.The greenhouse is also used to grow thousands of seedlings annually for Edible Acre gardens and for our community spring plant sale.

    Youth Summer Employment: Since 2012, Eible Acre has partnered with the City of Evanston's Mayor’s summer youth employment program where we hire and train youth to work in the garden. Students learn all the tasks associated with running an urban garden site (seeding, transplanting, weeding, watering, plant care, pest management, harvesting and washing and packing of vegetables ). This paid summer job is for 8-10 weeks each summer.

    Produce Distribution: Produce and flowers grown in the garden go to a number of different locations. We use produce in the school cafeterias. We also have a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture program where members of ETHS staff and the community purchase weekly boxes of fresh produce from the months of June - October. We also distribute produce through a local business that sells local and organic vegetables.

     

     

     

     

Contact

  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in any program or activity conducted or funded by the USDA. If you wish to file a Civil Rights program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, found online at http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html, or at any USDA office, or call (866) 632-9992 to request the form. You may also write a letter containing all of the information requested in the form. Send your completed complaint form or letter by mail to the USDA, Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410, by fax (202) 690-7442 or email atprogram.intake@usda.gov. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339 or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.