Lunchtime at Madrone Trail Public Charter School in Central Point has a new look and a more healthful mission.

The smell of piping hot chow mein wafted through the air Thursday at the campus at 3070 Ross Lane. Tempting aromas of steamed veggies, grilled meat and homemade sauce symbolized three years of jumping through hoops and navigating governmental red tape to become a designated sponsor of the National School Lunch Program.

Feb. 27 was “Day 1” of the school serving only organic, from-scratch dishes — instead of mass-produced meals made with processed ingredients.

Formerly relegated to the usual options of contract food service providers, the Waldorf-inspired school called for a meal program “more in line with our school philosophies,” according to Madrone Trail Executive Director Kendall Roberts

“Previously, we contracted through the Medford School District with Sodexo. Since we couldn’t heat the food, it was basically sack lunches. We didn’t have a whole kitchen, so we had to build our kitchen and get some other things in order,” Roberts said.

“We decided we wanted to do it the right way and go through the state so we could get reimbursed. You have to meet very stringent requirements, which is 80% of the battle.”

Evan Wilson, director of nutrition services, began cooking at the school last year, starting with from-scratch soups. Initially an alternative to district-provided lunches, the soups also served as a fundraiser and a chance for Wilson to create new recipes. Smaller containers were available for student lunches, and bigger containers could be purchased for families to take home.

Wilson, who ran the Apocalypse Chow food truck during the pandemic, said an experience years ago with school lunch programs planted the seed for what began last week.

“I have a kid, and we used to live next to an elementary school that, during the summer, was offering free lunch to anybody that wanted it. I was, of course, super curious and decided to check it out,” he said.

“I remember grabbing my son a milk and waiting to get to the front of the line. … It turned out that they were serving chips with what looked like mystery meat and probably canned cheese. The salad bar was three different kinds of canned beans and shredded iceberg lettuce. I said, ‘Thanks for the milk,’ but that we would pass on the lunch.”

Pushing for something different at Madrone Trail, Wilson helped devise the new program, and nearby School District 6 officials, who made changes to their lunch offerings, helped navigate “some of the red tape.”

To get the lunches, students log into a computer program and pre-order entrees. A salad bar, homemade breakfast and healthy snack options are also available.

On Day 1 of the new program, the menu called for spaghetti — regular, vegetarian or vegan. By Thursday, Wilson tossed fresh veggies and homemade sauce into a pan, creating vegan chow mein.

Social, emotional and wellness coordinator Shelby Dias, helping spread sunflower butter on organic bread at a cafeteria table, applauded the lunch program changes.

“One of the most important parts of having a healthy school is having healthy meals. The food that the children eat directly affects their ability to focus, their behavior, and it affects them in their future too, because they’re seeing that a homemade meal is really what’s going to best serve them,” said Dias.

“Knowing that the adults are prioritizing whole foods for them is so important. That’s a lifelong skill we’re hoping they can take with them.”

Sixth-grader Silas Moon said the new lunch program was “seriously such a blessing.”

“All the sack lunches they would feed the students were not good. They were just not healthy, organic food. A lot of the time, the apples were all bruised and old, but now it’s like healthy, organic, hot food every day,” said the 11-year-old.

“The wraps we had Wednesday were extremely good. With the sauce and the chicken and the olives, the way they put it together was really great.”

Sixth-grader Norah Costa called previous school lunches “not great.”

“Nobody really could eat it before. There was some mystery cheese. Nobody could eat the meat, which was really gross. The sandwiches were the worst because the meat and the cheeses weren’t real,” she said. “I feel pretty lucky we have this. Most schools don’t have somebody to cook for them.”

Again embracing the school’s Waldorf-inspired approach, Wilson hopes to grow many of the vegetables used for lunches and to prioritize organic, local ingredients.

“We’ll be making our own jam and pickling vegetables,” he said. “The school has lot of space to do our own food growing, and we already have an active gardening program.”

Wilson said he wished more schools could find ways to “do better.”

“I think most schools realize it’s not a great system, but I think the system has forced schools to operate in such a way, to settle. It’s harder for bigger schools to hire chefs to make things from scratch that take hours,” he said.

“I don’t know how our system functions in a way that it somehow makes sense to feed them overly processed items, but these are our children. They’re the future. They’re the people who should be getting all the best food.”