“It’s more than a farm-to-school program,” Watts says. “It’s about efficiency, sustainability and food security,” and keeping Hawaiʻi dollars in Hawaiʻi communities.

The program’s mission is to create “citizen eaters,” keiki who understand the connections between local foods, health and agriculture and who make the connections part of their daily lives. Once lunch is conquered, they look to tackle breakfast too, partnering with Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice to increase participation and ensure more keiki start their mornings with a full belly. School gardens, keiki gardeners and kitchen staff harvesting herbs for their customized scratch recipes are all right on the horizon, the next steps in the statewide vision.

Right now, the greatest staff incentives might be what’s not in the trash cans. In Mililani, the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation stepped in to help institute a waste management program, thus measuring how much food is consumed—and what gets thrown away—by the students. “Kitchen staff members teared up when they saw the almost empty trash bins,” Watts says, “They had so much pride that the food they made was now being eaten by the students. Kids were actually coming up and thanking them for it.” 

A clean plate, a full belly and a heartfelt thank you. It doesn’t get much better than that.