School district seeks EPA resiliency grant to build community commercial kitchen and emergency hub

Kristin Neerot, superintendent and principal of the local school district, told the Benton County advisory committee that the district has applied for an EPA resiliency-hub grant and is pursuing a standalone commercial kitchen and community resiliency hub on school property.

Neerot said the district submitted its resiliency-hub application in November and asked the panel to consider the project as a community asset. "We would actually have a commercial working kitchen that could be used to do mass quantities of food," Neerot said. She described the building as intended both for regular school use and for community events or emergency response.

The district estimates the new kitchen-and-commons building would allow the school to cook at scale and expand food storage beyond the current three- to four-day supply. Neerot said the school can house up to about 1,000 people in normal emergency…