News from New York State Office of General Services

For more information contact: Brad Maione, 518-474-5987

OGS Reminds School Districts To Apply For Best Practices Awards

Awards Given For Best Use of Government Commodity Foods in School Lunches

ALBANY, NY (04/10/2008; 1301)(readMedia)-- New York State Office of General Services Commissioner John C. Egan today reminded state school districts that the application deadline for the OGS/USDA Best Practices Awards is May 1.

The awards program recognizes school districts that demonstrate innovation and creativity using government commodity foods in their school lunch program. Winning districts receive a $5,000 award to be used for the purchase of new food service equipment.

“Since 2001 OGS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have offered the Best Practices Awards as a way to identify and acknowledge school lunch programs that have utilized innovative ideas and best practices for the use of government commodity foods in their school lunch programs,” Commissioner Egan said. “We are pleased to recognize those districts that go the extra mile to provide nutritional lunches for their students.”

The OGS Division of Food Distribution & Warehousing warehouses and distributes federally provided government commodity food for use by school districts, food banks and other facilities. More than $80 million worth of food is distributed annually to over 3,500 recipient agencies throughout the state. There are approximately 1,050 New York school districts participating in the program.

Award applications and information are available on the OGS website. School districts interested in applying for the Best Practices Awards should visit www.ogs.state.ny.us, click on the Support Services icon, and go to the “Food Distribution & Warehousing Headlines” link or by calling 518.474.5122. Award winners will be announced in September 2008.

The 2007 Best Practices Awards winners were the Oswego City School District and the Cooperative Association for Food Efficiency (CAFÉ) at the Long Island School Food Service Directors Association.

CAFÉ Chairperson Lois Chait said, “The Best Practices award from OGS was especially generous and timely as the Long Island Cooperative is about to sign a contract for the creation of a new website, which we will utilize to do our cooperative bidding. Having been a part of the co-op since its inception, I know how helpful this award money is in helping us build this website for all the participating Districts to utilize for our bids.”

Dennis Jerome, the Oswego City School District School Lunch Director said the district was honored to be chosen for the 2007 award.

“This provided a boost in the morale of our staff as they are all very positive and we are all very proud of receiving this recognition,” Jerome said. “We work diligently to provide the best for our students and staff and this type of recognition allows us to enhance an already quality program.”

For more information on the OGS Division of Food Distribution & Warehousing Program please visit the OGS website at www.ogs.state.ny.us.

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