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Boy Scouts plan pancake breakfast
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Help some hard-working Boy Scouts fulfill their goals by eating pancakes at Applebee’s on Saturday morning.
Boy Scout Troop 309 is holding a pancake breakfast this Saturday, May 16, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Enjoy all-you-can-eat pancakes for $5 per person and all the proceeds will go toward helping troop members with their activities.
Nathan Bailey, 14, says he and four other scouts want to go to Philmont Scout Ranch, a Boy Scouts of America premier high adventure base that challenges Scouts and Venturers, which is a co-ed group, with more than 214 square miles of rugged northern New Mexico wilderness.
“We are trying to raise money to go,” said Bailey. “We want to go to Philmont. This will probably be the one and only time any of us will get to go. I’ve been told it’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip and that it changes you. I would like to have the chance to go.”
Per person, the cost is $870 and does not include airfare. The Philmont trip will have seven individuals going, five scouts and two chaperones. The trip is scheduled for July 2016.
While the ranch offers different experiences, the boys want to go on the 12-day package that includes backpacking treks, horseback cavalcades, and training and service programs that promise to be high-adventure based and push the scouts’ endurance to the limit. Scouts are encouraged to train for the trip.
Bailey says they are training for the trip, while attempting to raise money.
“We are training for this,” he said. “We hope we get to go.”
More than 1 million Scouts, Venturers, and leaders have experienced the adventure of Philmont since the first camping season in 1939.
Proceeds from the pancake breakfast will also be used to send some members of Boy Scout Troop 309 to attend summer camp at the Boxwell Scout Reservation in Nashville, another activity of the troop. Boxwell costs $225-$275 per scout.
If you do not want to attend the pancake breakfast but you would like to make a donation for the Philmont trip, please contact Christie Bailey at 743-4825 or Melonie Turner at 273-2616.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community