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| Colorado Education Association President Kerrie Dallman and Vice President Amie Baca-Oehlert serve breakfast after the bell to a Kindergarten class at Dupont Elementary in Commerce City (just north of Denver) during a Read Across America event. |
National School Breakfast Week may almost be over but we are committed to spreading the importance of school breakfast every day! In case you missed it, we had a terrific guest blog from NEA President Dennis Van Roekel who reminded us that although hunger exists it is a solvable problem – if we work together. Also, John Wilson, a longtime friend of NEA HIN, wrote a fantastic blog for Education Week about making new commitments to implement breakfast programs that feed every child in our schools. To see all of our School Breakfast Week information check out our webpage here.
Through working with various partners such as the Food Research and Action Center, National Association of Elementary School Principals Foundation, School Nutrition Foundation and Share Our Strength we have also been able to shine a spotlight on so many school districts who are working together to promote school breakfast as a way to combat child hunger.
Last week, a lot happened! We celebrated the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day, and we also partnered with Share Our Strength on two media events to promote their new report: Ending Child Hunger: A Social Impact Analysis. This report finds federal programs like school breakfast are important in the fight to end childhood hunger. You can download the report from our School Breakfast Week page.
The first media event happened in Annapolis, Maryland with the Maryland State Education Association and the second took place in Little Rock, Arkansas with the Little Rock Education Association. These events also promoted our partnership and work to increase school breakfast participation. Here is a recap of all we’ve been up to recently:
- Last week, schools around the country celebrated the importance of reading through various Read Across America events. NEA Executive Committee Member Princess Moss shared her favorite books to read to students over breakfast and Colorado Education Association President Kerrie Dallman and Vice President Amie Baca-Oehlert served breakfast to students at a Read Across America event outside Denver, Colorado! Check out the great picture of Kerrie and Amie serving up a nutritious breakfast to students.
- Annapolis, Maryland: Gov. Martin O’Malley joined students and anti-hunger advocates at Eastport Elementary for a breakfast celebration. Gov. O’Malley has included $1.8 million dollars in his proposed budget towards expanding Maryland Meals for Achievement, a program that feeds breakfast to students. Maryland State Education Association Vice-President Cheryl Bost spoke about the importance of programs like Maryland Meals for Achievement, “Sometimes the conversation focuses on so much of the big and abstract issues and reforms that we overlook the simple straightforward programs like Meals for Maryland.” To see more about the event click here.
- Little Rock, Arkansas: First Lady Ginger Beebe joined education leaders and anti-hunger advocates to discuss the impact of school breakfast on academic achievement. Cathy Koehler, President of the Little Rock Education Association was among the advocates who spoke about her involvement with programs like Breakfast in the Classroom, “As an educator, I’ve seen the difference school breakfast and healthy food skills make in a child’s life. Knowing they can start the day with the fuel they need to learn gives students a leg-up every day.” Little Rock, AK was one of the first five districts selected by the Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom to receive a grant to implement breakfast in the classroom. Cathy is a true champion for hungry children in Arkansas and even wrote an Op-Ed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about the importance of school breakfast.
If you would like to get involved in increasing school breakfast participation at your school, get a copy of our Start School with Breakfast Guide. This publication was created in partnership with Share Our Strength to promote alternative breakfast models.
Join the conversation about the importance of breakfast on NEA HIN’s Facebook and Twitter. We want to hear from you as we celebrate National School Breakfast Week!