Regional School Unit #89 in Stacyville, Maine is the kind of small rural district that nutrition grants were built for. RSU 89 holds an HMI grant from Action for Healthy Kids and USDA, and it picked up the Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals Award — both of which recognize measurable progress on meal quality and on meeting USDA's updated nutrition standards.
Hiring first, because scratch cooking is a staffing problem
The single biggest use of HMI funds at RSU 89 was labor — hiring more kitchen staff, and paying for training in healthier preparation methods and scratch techniques. Small rural kitchens often can't move to scratch without that, because even a well-equipped kitchen won't hold a scratch menu without enough hands trained to run it.
With more cooks on the line, the menu shifted. Scratch-made additions students now see regularly include homemade sub rolls, scratch croutons, house pickles, roasted chickpeas, Broccoli Chicken Penne, Buffalo Chicken Calzones, and Sweet Chili Asian Noodle Bowls.
Cooler-freezer capacity that matches Maine's growing season
RSU 89 used grant funds to add a cooler/freezer combo with enough volume to actually hold a Maine summer's worth of local produce — and freeze a share of it for use through the off-season. In practice, that's what turns a seasonal "farm-to-school day" into a year-round menu program.
The farm down the road
The district partnered with Keep Ridge Farm in nearby Benedicta, Maine for steady local produce — squash, onions, eggs, carrots, kale. The direct relationship is why the new scratch menu holds together: fresh inputs improved taste, student acceptance, and nutrition density in a way that canned goods simply can't match.