POTSDAM -- GardenShare invites the public to a presentation in Potsdam by a national leader in the movement for healthy school food.

Dr. Janet Poppendieck will speak on the topic “Working Together to Fix School Food” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10, in a presentation in Potsdam’s Kingston Middle School cafeteria.

Poppendieck’s talk is free and open to the public. Parents and teachers, school board members and administrators, food service staff and students are encouraged to attend.

At a time when parents and school cafeteria staff alike want healthy food in our schools, Poppendieck, a professor of sociology at Hunter College, offers a persuasive vision of working together to guarantee fresh, nutritious food for all children as a regular part of their school day. Her simple premise is that hunger is the enemy of education. She rejects the scapegoating, moralism, and quick fixes that characterize so much of the current debate over school food. Instead, she presents an insightful and balanced analysis based on her interviews with front-line food service personnel and her visits to lunch rooms across the nation.

Poppendieck is the author of the book “Free for All: Fixing School Food in America,” which has been called “a timely and extremely thoughtful call for a sane, just, and healthy school food agenda for America’s children.”

Noted food activist Marion Nestle describes Poppendieck’s book as “extraordinarily well-thought-out, beautifully written, sympathetic, and compelling.” It has been awarded the Outstanding Book Award for 2010 by the Association for the Study of Food and Society.

Poppendieck’s presentation is part of GardenShare’s ongoing effort to promote healthy food and strengthen healthy farms so that everybody eats. To learn more about GardenShare and its programs, visit www.GardenShare.org.