CSNA Was a Home Run! Highlights from Our Farm-to-School Team

Excitement was in the air when our team arrived in Sacramento, California, and started setting up our booth at the California School Nutrition Association’s Annual Conference (CSNA). We couldn’t wait to spread the word about our farm-to-school fruit and vegetable delivery program to new districts, pass out samples of our fresh fruit, and hug our clients. 

It was a whirlwind three days (we attended November 14–16), and we had an absolute blast. Here are a few of the highlights. 

Silly Outfits & Fun Giveaways

This year’s conference theme was “Hitting a Home Run for Child Nutrition,” and, as always, we went all-in to celebrate it. 

“Our booth’s A League of Their Own theme and our baseball costumes were a huge hit,” Krista Feldhouse, one of our school account senior coordinators, said. “We just couldn’t resist being the Rockford Peaches—we are from The FruitGuys after all!”

One highlight was a baseball-themed photo booth we set up with help from The Pics Stop where customers could take selfies with us and each other. We also brought a few extras to give away alongside our fruit: colorful FruitGuys Farm-to-School Program tote bags and fun fruit and veggie trading cards. 

Fresh Fruit the Students Loved

All of the freebies were a hit, but nothing went as fast as the piles and piles of fresh fruit and vegetables that we brought to share with attendees. 

Jaysa Tabbada, another of our school account senior coordinators, said, “One of my favorite parts of CSNA was seeing a field trip of kids run up to our booth and get so excited to see all the beautiful fruits and vegetables we had to offer. They were taking so many bananas, apples, watermelons, and all the unique items!”

“We went through almost all of our produce,” said Carol Stewart, our director of school program development. “That has never happened before.” 

Heartwarming Feedback from Farm-to-School Clients

Every year, one of the best parts of CSNA is meeting representatives from the more than 70 school districts that we serve face-to-face. 

“One of my first school accounts came by the booth to give me a hug and say how much her staff loves to work with us,” Jaysa recalled. “She even said that the kids love our produce and know when the fruit and vegetables aren’t from The FruitGuys!’”

Krizzia De La Cuesta, another school account senior coordinator, said that customers told her their students loved “the fruit selection” and particularly enjoyed their delivery of Lucy Glo apples, which have yellow skin and surprising reddish-pink flesh. 

“I loved seeing some of our longtime and favorite customers in person,” said Czareanah Do, our schools account manager. “Seeing the smiles on their faces when they said, ‘Oh, we loved it when you sent us this,’ or ‘The kids really enjoyed trying that,’ made the work we do to deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to schools feel really worthwhile. My favorite memory this year was seeing one customer who I’ve been working with for almost ten years. She made a point to stop by to see me at the booth on Saturday and we shared big hugs and took photos together.”

Winning Best Booth

The icing on the cake of our team’s experience this year was winning Best Overall Booth, an award given by the CSNA board members. 

“We start planning for CSNA months before the conference so it’s so exciting to finally see all of our ideas come together and to receive the best booth award,” Jaysa said. 

CSNA always brings our team closer, and this year we felt more connected than ever.

A Bright Future for Farm-to-School

Not only was CSNA fun and heartwarming, but it was also a learning experience for us. We used the conference as an opportunity to ask questions and find out how we can continue helping the school districts we serve in the coming year and beyond. 

“From what we gathered this year, districts are eager and excited to provide more fruits and veggies to their students but are a little lost and overwhelmed as to how to do it,” Krista said. “As our CEO, Erin, so skillfully put it, The FruitGuys is the ‘to’ in farm-to-school. We can help districts connect with farms and get the produce to the schools so that they can focus on serving it to their students.” 

You can learn more about our Farm-to-School Program here.