Vermont First by Sodexo

As a proud partner of Vermont First by Sodexo, National Life Group exemplifies the spirit of community care. This Thanksgiving, they joined forces with Sugarbush Resort to distribute 1,700 free meals to local families—a tradition now in its fourth year. Vermont First celebrates their dedication to supporting neighbors and strengthening Vermont communities. Thank you Vermont Business Magazine for capturing more on this heartwarming story at https://lnkd.in/euXVh5wH

As we reflect on our partnership with the Intervale Center and local suppliers, we’re reminded of the importance of supporting Vermont’s agricultural community. Through Vermont First by Sodexo, we embrace the values of sustainability, local sourcing, and community resilience, which are vital to the campus dining experience at Champlain College, Norwich University, Saint Michael's College, University of Vermont and Vermont State University. We’re grateful for the ongoing support from our dedicated team and partners in making this possible. Campus dining plays a key role in shaping regional food systems. By thoughtfully sourcing local ingredients, we nourish both students and the planet, while ensuring students’ commitment to sustainability is respected. These values are central to Vermont First’s mission to support local farmers and strengthen the regional food economy. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together but are excited for what’s ahead. As we continue to build on this foundation, we’re focused on creating sustainable growth and deepening our connections with Vermont’s communities. A heartfelt thank you to all who have made this journey a success – your passion and dedication are what drive our shared mission forward. #SustainableDining #LocalFood #Teamwork #Partnerships #UVM #Sodexo #VermontFirst

November’s Harvest of the Month brings local flavors with carrots and cabbage, sourced from Vermont farms committed to sustainable practices! Our carrots come from the Just Cut program in Hardwick, VT, where local produce is cleaned, prepped, and ready to be enjoyed on campus. The second harvest, organic cabbage, arrives from Intervale Center Community Farm in Burlington, a unique consumer-owned cooperative. Through its CSA program, this farm supplies fresh produce to over 600 households weekly. Thanks to the hardworking team at the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) , these locally sourced veggies are prepped and delivered by the Intervale Food Hub, ready to be enjoyed in soups, salads, and stews across campus!

Our community came together at University of Vermont for an amazing time at Cats-Giving, a meal kit-making event led by teams from Rally Cats Cupboard, UVM Dining, and the UVM Career Center Over 40 students, alumni, and local employers came together to create 50 meal kits featuring local ingredients: butternut squash mac and cheese with Cabot Creamery Cooperative Cheese, Proctor Maple Brussels sprouts, and Champlain Orchards baked apples. Participants packed and decorated meal kit boxes while connecting over shared interests in food systems, community impact, and career exploration. These meal kits were distributed at Rally Cats Cupboard, providing our community a taste of the season’s harvest and a comforting meal to enjoy together.

November Harvest of the Month: Carrots & Cabbage ???? This month, we’re spotlighting two versatile, nutrient-rich vegetables: carrots and cabbage. Carrots, a biennial root vegetable, focus on root growth in their first year, followed by leaf and seed development in the second. Known for their natural sweetness, they are an excellent, nutritious snack. Cabbage, part of the cruciferous vegetable family (alongside broccoli), is packed with fiber and nutrients. Fun fact: the heaviest recorded cabbage weighed an impressive 138 pounds! Throughout November, our culinary teams are proud to feature locally sourced carrots and cabbage in our offerings, celebrating fresh, regional produce.

Soy fanatics and lentil lovers rejoice, because today marks #WorldVeganDay Roughly 1% of people in the world identify as vegan, including 2% of the US population. Plant-forward diets are an important and delicious part of the sustainable food movement, with lower environmental and human health impacts than meat-heavy diets, and an astoundingly diverse array of delicious options. Celebrate plant-based diets with us today and throughout the year, to help build a better tomorrow!

Exciting news! The Intervale Center has been awarded one of the 2024 New England Food Vision Prizes by Henry P. Kendall Foundation in partnership with the Sodexo USA team at the University of Vermont Dining. This funding will enable the Intervale Center to grow the Intervale Food Hub's capacity to connect small-to-mid-scale farmers and producers to institutional markets, ultimately increasing the amount of local food served at higher education campuses in our region and reducing barriers to market access for farms, especially socially disadvantaged farms. We are excited to see their wholesale program grow so we can bring more local and organic food into more of our Vermont First kitchens. Launched by the Henry P. Kendall Foundation in 2018, the New England Food Vision Prize Program aims to increase the amount of local and regional food prepared and served on New England college and university campuses and within K-12 public school districts, helping to strengthen the region’s food system. The Prize program, now in its fifth year, awards grants up to $200,000 to winning teams. Prizes are awarded to projects that build resilience, relationships, and capacity within New England’s academic institutional food supply chain,resulting in increased preparation, sourcing, serving, or use and consumption of local and regional food at K-12 schools and higher education institutions. We also want to congratulate all of the other prize winners. We look forward to building a stronger, more resilient regional food system, together. Nicole Reilly, MS, RD, CD Justin Dreslinski Eric Caravan Steven Hadaway Heather Winther Ania Egan, MS, RDN Ryan Hickey Tim MacTurk Nick Pawlowski Jeremy Metcalf Tiffany Peden Tracy Higuera Tess Bilbrey Jason Hadley Kate Shearer Heather Muhlenberg Stacy Bowman-Hade Maeve McInnis Rose Forrest Jessie Curran, MS, RDN Brian Roper

??? Monday, October 21, kicks off WasteLESS Week, an annual Sodexo campaign aimed at raising awareness and empowering us all to cut down on packaging and food waste. Wherever you call home or work, look for ways to put the "3 R's of Sustainability" into action: ?? Reduce: Skip single-use packaging whenever possible. ?? Reuse: Where you dine, bring reusable utensils, a refillable mug or water bottle. ?? Recycle (or compost): Where applicable, scrape your plate or place remaining food waste in an area where compost can be separated. Recycling gives items a new life, and composting enriches our soil while cutting down greenhouse gas emissions. Being mindful of what we eat, what we waste, and how we use our resources is essential for a #bettertomorrow . Together, we can make a real difference! ?? #planetaryhealth #wasteless #sodexo

We’d like to thank Christopher Brittain for his past few years of service and contributions as the Vermont First Facilitator. He has been instrumental in upgrading the systems and platform to run data and analytics more efficiently as well as supporting the operations teams to make strategic local food shifts. We are excited for you as you move into your new role in Minnesota. With that, we are looking to hire a new Vermont First Facilitator to continue to lead the way. Are you passionate about local food sourcing and the Farm to Institution movement? Are you a leader looking to make a difference in the Vermont food system? Sodexo USA has an exciting opportunity for you. We are hiring a Vermont First Facilitator to coordinate our best-in-class local food purchasing program covering our 12 accounts across the state, including University of Vermont. This job is based out of the Burlington, VT area with flexibility for 1-2 days of remote work. Primary Responsibilities include compiling and analyzing local and regional food purchasing data, precepting a Graduate Food System Fellow, coordinating communication between Executive Chefs and Distributors for local purchasing strategic planning and product development, overseeing the Vermont First Advisory Board meetings and committees, and supporting marketing and storytelling about the program. Bachelors degree in food systems, culinary arts, or nutrition with 1-3 years of supervisory/management experience or Masters degree in food systems or related field preferred. Sound like a good fit? Feel free to reach out to me to learn more and/or for a referral. Or apply directly at https://lnkd.in/ehUkfbiG VERMONT FRESH NETWORK Northeast Organic Farming Association of VT (NOFA-VT) Farm to Institution New England Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Eric Caravan Steven Hadaway Tim MacTurk Heather Winther Ania Egan, MS, RDN Nate Stevens

?? Harvest of the Month Highlight ?? We’re proud to feature apples and cider by Sunrise Orchards of Cornwall, VT. Their 100% solar-powered orchard uses the sun to deliver a delicious variety of organic apples to your fingertips. ???? Sunrise Orchards is a pollinator-forward company, collaborating with the local invertebrate populations to control pest pressure through Integrated Pest Management (IPM), as well as local pollinator habitat creation group Bee the Change. They strive to prioritize ecosystem and community health in all their products and practices. Additionally, at the University of Vermont, their apples and cider come from Champlain Orchards, in Shoreham, VT. All of their apples are "eco-certified", meaning that they are grown with sustainability practices tailored to local growing conditions. Champlain Orchards is one of the oldest continuously operating orchards in Vermont. The farm is almost entirely solar-powered!