Coconuts, bananas, and papayas in Samoan baskets made out of palm leaves.
A group of federal agency representatives has recommended that all the federally funded nutrition programs in American Samoa be administered under one umbrella.
Representatives from the United States Department of Agriculture Western Region 9 Office from San Francisco which administers the School Lunch Program under the Department of Education, the WIC Program and Food Stamps under the Department of Human and Social Services and the Territorial Administration on Aging’s hot meal program were here last week to see first hands how these programs are being administered.
The team was led by Mr. Jesus Mendoza Jr. the Regional Administrator, Dennis Steward, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Director, Becky Hobbs, Financial Management Director and Marisa Cheung, Branch Chief, Community Nutrition Programs.
DOE Director, Vaitinasa Dr. Salu Hunkin was with the federal officials on Thursday when they met with Governor Lolo and Lt. Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga and representatives of local government agencies with USDA nutrition programs.
At her monthly press conference, the DOE Director expressed gratitude to the federal agencies for their continued assistance over the years, ensuring that the school children of American Samoa benefit from their programs.
DOE receives about $19 million each year for the School Lunch Program, and $2 million of that amount is allocated for the supply of fresh local produce.
Vaitinasa says the federal funding enables DOE to serve more than 30,000 meals a day to feed school children in government and private schools, including ECE, elementary and high schools.
DOE’s Assistant Director in charge of the School Lunch Program, Christina Fualaau, says the team was impressed with the physical labor in school kitchens and cafeterias.
In the states, vendors deliver milk, water and ready to eat meals and hardly any cooking is done in the schools,
Fualaau says the visiting team found the work being done by SLP employees, remarkable.
DOE Director Vaitinasa was happy to hear positive remarks by the visitors on improvements in the local School Lunch Program, for the last three years.
