About EATS

How it Began

EATS has become a key supporter in improving the health and well-being of students in the Park City community. The advocacy work we have done at the Park City School District (PCSD) level has created the space for big changes! In the 2018/19 school year, EATS supported the work in the PCSD kitchens to assist in transitioning from heat and serve to scratch-made meals. Our goal is to maintain a mutually beneficial and lasting partnership that will improve school food and enable our children to thrive.

EATS and Park City School District

EATS Park City has become both an advocate and resource for improving the health and well-being of children and their families in the greater Park City community and now even into eastern Summit County. The advocacy work we have done at the Park City School District (PCSD) level has created the space for big changes! In the 2018/19 school year, PCSD transitioned from heat and serve to scratch-made meals. Our goal is to develop a mutually beneficial and lasting partnership that will continue to improve school food and enable our children to thrive.

Community Education, Cooking Classes and Gardens!

EATS focus is always on empowering both our community’s children and their families. We do so by empowering them through Community Education like Family Cooking Classes, Community Taste Tests and collaborations.

Curious Cooks: Afterschool provides an empowering blend of nutritious food to students as well as the additional impact of showing them where food comes from, and how to prepare it. This essential education is critical. Through EATS’ interactive cooking class program students, children and their families are challenged to mix and match new flavors like adding spicy arugula leaves to their watermelon salad. Curious Cooks: Afterschool puts the fun into nutrition, builds excitement around food, and empowers students to take ownership over their eating habits. This program currently runs in the PCSD after school program for grades K-5 where more than 300 students are enrolled with 50% receiving scholarships. In addition to Curious Cooks: Afterschool, EATS also has Curious Cooks: Community in development to expand community classes for nontraditional students.

Curious Cooks: Afterschool in upper school, grades 6-9, the students are given the freedom to learn through experimentation while ensuring they have the resources to be successful. We regularly bring in community members (professional chefs, Olympians) to further expand the students’ nutrition and culinary interests.

EATS also supports teachers by providing resources, expertise, and funding opportunities for indoor hydroponic tower gardens, outdoor gardens, and greenhouses. These spaces are used to teach a variety of academic subjects (math, science, engineering), life skills, and a connection to where food originates.

EATS’ programs empower children and their families to hone these skills into adulthood. The full circle approach we provide encourages sustainability. If each student, child and their family is properly nourished, knows how to prepare nutritious food, and is connected to the process, we will not only have healthier children but a greater chance at a healthy, thriving community.

EATS 2021 - 2022 Annual Report

The opportunity to do what we love for our community is an incredible gift. The values that started our organization have grown into fabulous programs that educate and inspire our youth.

Our newest and noteworthy effort in schools paid off BIG TIME this year. We initiated our goal of district-wide lunchtime composting and our student community showed us that we can achieve it. Parley’s Park and Jeremy Ranch Elementary Schools, and Park City Day School participated in projects where STUDENTS made a direct impact diverting more than 28,000 pounds of uneaten lunch to become renewable natural gas. We always tell the students, “The best place for your lunch is in your tummy; the second best place is in the compost bin.”

Our 2021/2022 year saw some of our most impactful edible education. We taught more than 328 classes of edible education, including our in-school garden lessons where our kids get dirty and connect to their food and our interconnected food cycle. In addition, our thriving after school cooking classes continue to empower kids to make their own healthy choices. They are developing essential life skills that will support them throughout their lives - nourishing their bodies to achieve their hopes and dreams.

In 2021/22 EATS provided more than 13,000 Backpack Meals! Additionally, EATS has grown more than 60 pounds of fresh vegetables, which we used in our collaborative summer camps and then donated the rest to our neighbors and community. We also taught over 50 garden-specific classes to children throughout our community and they now more deeply understand how worms help build nutrient-rich soil, the importance of the right bugs in our gardens, and more.

Read and download the 2021 - 2022 Annual Report.  Prior year reports:  2020-2021 and 2019-2020