Alaska School Seafood Bounty Expands

A relationship that delivers processed locally caught salmon to a small Alaska school district is catching on in other parts of the state, reports the Bristol Bay Times. Last year, Dillingham (AK) Schools made news thanks to a partnership with Peter Pan Seafoods in which the company donated processing services for 4,000 pounds of fish—caught and donated by local fishermen—to the school lunch program in Dillingham and nine other small local districts.

This year, the company is upping that to 6,000 pounds and Foodservice Director Patty Luckhurst, who helped start the program, says she will send some of it to the local senior center and Head Start program. Dillingham’s success has now inspired partnerships between other schools and Peter Pan, including the Aleutians East Borough School District, where students this year will get fresh salmon for lunch on designated days thanks to the initiative.