A program in Gunnison is providing teachers free, fresh, local food

Once a month, Amanda Birdsong opens her front door in the afternoon to find a box of fresh produce. Birdsong operates Songbird School House, a family child care home in Gunnison for children between the ages of 1 and 5.

The produce boxes have been a boon to Birdsong’s family. She’s able to feed her own two children fresh produce (which is often out of stock at the nearby market) and local meat (generally too expensive at the store), and she relishes the ease of having the groceries dropped right at her door.

The food cartons are a collaboration between the Gunnison-Hinsdale Early Childhood Council (ECC) and Mountain Roots Food Project, a Gunnison-area food systems nonprofit, to provide healthy food to area teachers for free. (Mountain Roots is a past Colorado Trust…