A Recipe for Change

Click here to ask for more information about this project:

Budget

Raised to date: $81,000.00
Estimate to complete: $109,000.00
Total Estimated Budget: $190,000.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 01/15/2010

Status

Production

Media Type

Video

Project End Use

Key Personnel

Richard Chisolm
Director, Cinematographer, Co-Producer
Richard Chisolm is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and cinematographer with over 25 years of production experience. Deeply committed to the value of real stories and the adventures of real people, Richard has worked for PBS, National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel, HBO, and many other broadcast entities. He was the Director of Photography for both of ABC's "Hopkins" prime time medical documentary series (2000 and 2008). He is also the recipient of a Peabody Award, a Columbia duPont Journalism award, two Kodak Vision awards, three CINE Golden Eagles, and is a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Maryland.

Sheila Kinkade
Co-Producer
Sheila Kinkade captures the stories of grassroots visionaries whose innovative solutions to local challenges transformed their communities. Through books, articles, video interviews, and creative multimedia, she chronicles the lives of people whose perseverance and hope eclipse the barriers they see around them. Sheila’s work for nonprofit organizations has taken her from hill tribe villages in northern Thailand to high schools in Serbia, from the rainforests of Costa Rica to farming communities in Uganda. Sheila is co-author of Our Time is Now: Young People Changing the World, a book profiling 30 young heroes in 20 countries.

David Grossbach
Editor
David Grossbach has been editing documentaries for over twenty-five years. His award winning work has been broadcast on The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic TV and PBS among others. Last year he edited “Allah Made Me Funny,” a live performance comedy film theatrically released across the United States. His most recent film, “Soul of a People: Writing America's Story,” can currently being seen on The Smithsonian Channel.

Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)

Providing free copies of the film to selectschool districts across the state and nationally; showcasing the film at educational, environmental, and whole life conferences and at film festivals in the U.S.and internationally; featuring excerpts on related websites, along with resource materials to guide school districts in replicating the approach; organizing a speaking tour enabling Tony Geraci and other key spokespeople to share and discuss the film and the Baltimore green diet initiative at relevantvenues/conferences across the state and nationally; and pursuing a range of broadcast channels (e.g., PBS, Discovery Channel, Sundance Channel's The Green).

Funders

Name	Amount	Date
Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund	$5,000.00	12/30/2009
Philip and Beryl Sachs Family Foundation, Inc.	$6,000.00	12/26/2009
Elizabeth B. and Arthur E. Roswell Foundation	$10,000.00	10/01/2009
W.K. Kellogg Foundation	$25,000.00	05/01/2009
Aaron & Lillie Straus Foundation	$10,000.00	05/01/2009
Corfu Foundation	$25,000.00	03/15/2009

Location

P.O. Box 342
Stevenson, MD, 21153

See Google Maps

Short Synopsis

A Recipe for Change, a feature-length documentary film (currently in production), chronicles an ambitious effort to “green” the Baltimore City school diet and ensure the city’s 83,000 public school students are fed healthy, nutritious,locally-grown meals.

Description/Treatment

A Recipe for Change is a story of positive movement. It’s about the aspiration of social activists and citizens coming together to change the way kids eat at school. It’s about overhauling a dysfunctional nutritional system. And, it’s the story of what it takes, and who it takes, to make solutions happen.

The feature documentary film, now in production, chronicles an ambitious effort to ‘green’ the public school diet serving 83,000 students in Baltimore.

Leading the charge to replace pre-plated, processed foods with locally-grown, freshly-prepared meals is Tony Geraci, food-service director for the city’s public schools. A charismatic chef from New Orleans, Geraci describes himself as a “little bit lunch lady, a lot P.T. Barnum.” His bold vision includes a vegetable garden at every school, student-designed meals, meatless Monday’s, and nutrition education in the classroom. His mission is as audacious as it is practical.

“This has never been done before,” affirms Geraci, “but it makes perfect sense.”

The film follows Tony Geraci as a central character, introducing us to a dynamic assortment of human ingredients necessary for making A Recipe for Change succeed.

Among the protagonists in this story are parents, teachers, administrators, farmers, chefs, and dozens of creative and motivated students. Their collective efforts are proof positive that a ‘village’ is indeed required to reform school food.

Over the course of a year, the film will trace efforts to make healthy, nutritious meals available to all the city’s students. Viewers will watch as inner city youth plant and harvest vegetables at the school system’s 33-acre teaching farm. They will witness what it takes to get local produce on school plates. They will see elementary school students empowered to design cafeteria menus based on recipes reflecting their ethnic and cultural heritage. And they’ll watch as high school seniors develop practical job skills through a new citywide culinary vocational training program.

“If Tony makes this happen here the way he wants to, I think you’ll see this happening all over the country,” says best-selling author and food activist Michael Pollan in the film.

Click here to ask for more information about this project:

return to search

Main Menu

Featured Project