Scratch cooking is the preparation of meals using whole ingredients and prioritizes raw proteins, whole grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables to create nutritious and delicious meals. School food service professionals play a crucial role in promoting sustainability and creating a better future for students and the planet. In 2023 the Lewiston School District was one of seven districts across the country to be selected to join the Chef Ann Foundation’s Get Schools Cooking cohort, the foundation’s most intensive and holistic school food transformation program. The three-year grant supports the transition to scratch cooking through an onsite assessment, a comprehensive report of recommendations, strategic planning support, technical assistance, networking opportunities, and the opportunity to receive systems assistance funding. In 2024, Full Plates Full Potential awarded the Auburn School District funds for a School-Based Food Hub that will establish a collaborative, regional, school food processing and distribution hub in the Lewiston-Auburn area. This hub will increase the schools capacity to purchase in and prepare raw fruits and vegetables from local farmers and transform them into fresh cooked meals. Potatoes, carrots, butternut squash and apples were all products that were identified that are currently used in high volume from sources outside of Maine that can be transitioned to purchasing locally, processing and storing. Auburn Schools have already experimented with transforming raw local vegetables into meals as seasonaly available and incorporating raw local produce into their salad bar.