Tarpon Springs School Earns Praise For Offering Plant-Based Menu

TARPON SPRINGS, FL -- Solid Rock Community School, a K-12 private school in Tarpon Springs, is partnering with PlantPure, a company that provides plant-based menu items, to demonstrate how a school can implement plant-based meals.

The school leaders are making changes to decrease their environmental footprint on the world and provide staff and students with healthier meal options.

The new food program and school changes have garnered national attention and support.

“The plans for Solid Rock Community School’s menu transition is at the forefront of school nutrition,” said Amie Hamlin, the executive director of Coalition for Healthy School Food. “The plant-based lunch menu is something that more and more schools are exploring as research shows that most Americans are eating way too much meat, dairy and processed foods.”

Nelson Campbell, the founder and president of PlantPure Communities Inc., praised Michele Fasnacht, the director of Solid Rock Community School, for her work to raise awareness about the environment, animal agriculture and a whole food, plant-based diet.

Fasnacht has also garnered the support of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and author of “The China Study.”

“I sincerely encourage and support Mrs. Michele Fasnacht in her efforts to bring awareness and education to her families about the whole foods plant-based diet,” he said. “It is great to see her using her platform to help people change the cycle of old unhealthy habits to create new healthy ones. It is especially gratifying to see this offered to young people.”

Emails were sent to parents explaining the new healthy eating program earlier in the school year. Now, with the PlantPure partnership, SRCS will be a pod location where healthy plant-based meals will be available every day to students or staff interested in plant-based meal alternatives, making this new program even more efficient and sustainable.

Some students have signed up to participate in an after-school club where they learn about plant-based meals and investigate advocacy issues related to compassionate meal preparation.

Additionally, SRCS plans to offer its families a five-part evening series class on healthy eating to ensure all families are educated about their mission: “Eat More Plants and Save the Planet.”

“We want our students and families to be aware of how diet affects them personally and how it affects the entire planet,” said Fasnacht.

For more information, contact Fasnacht at (727) 934-0909 or visit the school’s website.

Image via Plantpure Communities