Baltimore City Schools First in the U.S. to Adopt Meatless Monday

BALTIMORE, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Baltimore City Public
Schools system was recognized yesterday by the Johns Hopkins Center for a
Livable Future (CLF) as the first Meatless Monday school system in the U.S.
The 80,000 young people it serves will begin each week with a Meatless Monday
menu.

Dr. Robert Lawrence, Director of the CLF and Dr. Michael Klag, Dean of the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, presented the Center's 2009
Award for Visionary Leadership in Local Food Procurement and Food Education to
Neil Duke, Chairman of Baltimore City Board of Schools and Tony Geraci,
Director of Baltimore City Schools Department of Food and Nutrition.

Dr. Lawrence said, "We are pleased to recognize the outstanding efforts by
Baltimore City Public Schools for incorporating a Meatless Monday menu plan
and bringing locally grown foods back into the lunchrooms."

Tony Geraci said the school hopes Meatless Monday can inspire people to
understand there are other options than just "meat and potatoes" for every
meal. He hopes Baltimore can lead the country in reconnecting the next
generation with food cultivation and preparation.

The school system has introduced a wide variety of projects to ensure its
students eat and learn about healthy, environmentally-friendly choices. School
system staff have been working with local farmers to provide fresh produce,
and with distributors committed to finding local suppliers. In addition, City
Schools has introduced a teaching farm, Great Kids Farm, and is developing the
resources to establish a garden at each of the systems' more than 200 schools.

"The Meatless Monday campaign, initiated in 2003 with Dr. Robert Lawrence and
Dean Alfred Sommer, has become a growing international movement of
individuals, organizations and communities committed to cutting out meat one
day a week for their health and the health of the planet," said Sid Lerner,
Chairman of the Monday Campaigns. Michael Pollan, noted food writer, author
and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley,
commented, "If Baltimore can pull this off, it will be a sign that the effort
is worth making!"

SOURCE Meatless Monday

Regina Weiss, +1-212-991-1069, regina@gracelinks.org, or Joey Lee of Meatless
Monday, +1-212-679-9606, jlee@mondaycampaigns.org, both of Meatless Monday