Attending the rally were kids from 60 soccer teams, parents, representatives from school districts throughout Texas, and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. The got breakfast? Foundation donated breakfast and milk to more than 1,000 children.

Guest speakers encouraged parents to get their kids to participate in current school breakfast programs and become got breakfast? Ambassadors for Breakfast in Classroom programs within Texas.  A video of the event is available on YouTube.

Carlos Quintanilla, President of Accion America, whose organization served over 100,000 meals to children this summer, emphasized the importance of eating healthy and getting school districts to participate in Breakfast in Classroom programs by addressing the myths that go along with failure to have this program available to  all students.

By switching from the traditional cafeteria breakfast to serving “grab ‘n’ go” classroom breakfasts, schools can feed more children. “For school districts with high free or reduced fee student population, cafeteria breakfast is a dinosaur,” says Gary Davis, founder of the got breakfast?  Foundation.  “Cafeteria breakfast is fiscally inefficient and socially impractical.  For school districts truly desiring to feed more eligible children breakfast each school day while positively impacting their bottom line 100 percent, classroom breakfast is the real and proven solution.”

According to the Food Research and Action Center’s School Breakfast Scorecard for 2009-2010, serving Breakfast in the Classroom is a key strategy for increasing participation rates.

Read the full news release.

Some of the report highlights:

1.  School breakfast participation improves children’s dietary intake.

• Low-income children who eat school breakfast have better overall diet quality than those who eat breakfast elsewhere or skip breakfast.

2.  School breakfast decreases the risk of food insecurity.

3.   School breakfast may protect against childhood obesity.

•  School breakfast participation is associated with a lower body mass index (BMI, an indicator of excess body fat), lower probability of overweight, and lower probability of obesity.
•  Increasing participation in the federal nutrition programs – including school breakfast – is a childhood obesity prevention strategy recommended by two recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) committees and the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity.

4.  School breakfast participation protects against other negative health outcomes.

• - School breakfast, including breakfast offered free to all students, has been linked with fewer visits to the school nurse, particularly in the morning.
• School breakfast participation, especially breakfast offered free to all students, positively impacts children’s mental health, including reductions in behavioral problems, anxiety, and depression.

5.  School breakfast helps improve children’s academic performance, whereas skipping breakfast and experiencing hunger impair development and learning.

• - Students who participate in school breakfast show improved attendance, behavior, and academic performance as well as decreased tardiness.
• -Participating in school breakfast is associated with improved math grades, attendance, and punctuality.

6.  Breakfast in the classroom programs‡ and programs offering breakfast free to all children in the cafeteria yield other positive results for health and learning.

• -Programs offering breakfast free to all students and breakfast in the classroom boost student breakfast participation.
•  Students attending schools that offer a breakfast free to all students are more likely to consume a nutritionally substantive breakfast and to consume significantly more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, fruit, and dairy products at breakfast, when compared to students from schools with a traditional means-tested school breakfast in the cafeteria program.

Our newest addition to the Breakfast BREAKS line-up is our Protein Breakfast BREAKS. There are three varieties that come shipped refrigerated.  Just add milk for a fully reimbursable meal.
• Blueberry Yogurt, Granola and 4 oz.  Fruit Juice
• Strawberry Yogurt, Snack and 4 oz. Fruit Juice
• Cheese Pack, Rice Chex and 4 oz. Fruit Juice (Gluten Free)

Plus our regular shelf-stable Breakfast BREAKS continued to wow folks at ANC – as they are the ideal solution for Breakfast in Classroom, Alternate Site feeding and increasing participation in breakfast programs. 

Everyone was raving about our new, delicious Macaroni & Cheese item, “Whole Grain, Reduced Fat, Reduced Sodium Mac & Cheese”. Our Reduced Fat, Reduced Sodium Macaroni & Cheese and Cheese Sauces were crowd pleasers too!

Our Thaw & Serve wrapped sandwiches have been so successful that we are expanding the product line.  Currently we have the following sandwiches available:
• Turkey Bologna and Cheese
• Turkey and Cheese
• Combo Sandwich
• Turkey Salami and Cheese

Finally, if you were at ANC, we hope you had a chance to see our latest tool kit: “How To Make Breakfast a Winner,” featuring helpful tips on how to help your school food service program make money. If you didn’t get one, just click here for the pdf.  

Please let us know if you would like to see samples of any of the new items or any  product from E S Foods. We’d love to hear from you.

• Blueberry Yogurt, Granola and 100% Fruit Juice
• Strawberry Yogurt, Snack and 100% Fruit Juice
• Cheese Pack, Rice Chex® and 100% Fruit Juice

These were added to our flagship line of shelf-stable Breakfast BREAKS, which made a big splash at last year’s ANC when we introduced them in new eco-friendly, pouch packaging. All Breakfast BREAKS varieties are the perfect grab ‘n go solution for school breakfast, especially classroom breakfast.

In addition, we are introducing our newest frozen item – Reduced Fat, Reduced Sodium, Whole Grain Mac & Cheese

And be sure to look in your attendee bag for our latest tool kit: How To Make Breakfast a Winner, featuring helpful tips on how to help your school food service program make money.  In fact, did you know that by feeding 1,000 kids breakfast each day, your school would receive over $250,000 in federal funding?  See our toolkit and be sure to stop by booth #311.  Hope to see you in Nashville!

We share his sentiment and applaud the recommendations and awareness brought to this issue by FRAC.  We all have to do what we can – program by program – to increase summer participation levels. In its effort to help end childhood hunger, the got breakfast? Foundation last week awarded Silent Hero Grants to organizations to create, support and expand Summer Nutrition Programs. Take a look at this year’s winners and see what kind of an impact a single program can have.

 Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department

The Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department has coordinated the SFSP in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska for 30 years.  According to grant recipient Michael Heyl, they generally operate between 30-34 sites for 10 weeks every summer.  They have grown from 32,000 meals per summer to almost 100,000 meals per summer in less than 9 years!  The Department partners with community centers, park and recreation centers, summer school programs, cultural centers, churches, and the Salvation Army to provide food to the children in their programs.  They provide breakfasts and lunches to 90% of our sites with the other 10% providing just lunches.

 East Texas Food Bank

Texas has the second highest rate of food insecurity in the nation among children under 18, and nearly 1 in 4 Texas children is at risk of hunger. To combat this issue, The East Texas Food Bank in Tyler, Texas, launched the Summer Food Service Program in 2005, which serves free breakfasts and lunches to children in economically depressed areas. According to grant recipient John Benedetti, they served 16,000 meals at 13 sites in the first year of the program. Since that time the program has grown to 53 sites across 15 counties and will likely serve more than 200,000 meals in 2011!  In addition to serving free breakfasts and lunches, the Food Bank also plans an enrichment program to help attract children to the sites and encourage them to return. This includes sports activities, nutrition education games and lessons, team-building exercises, and other recreational activities.

got breakfast?® Foundation Announces 2011

 Silent Hero Summer Grant Winners

Woodbury, NY, June 6, 2011 – The got breakfast?® Foundation this week awarded Silent Hero Grants to organizations to create, support and expand Summer Nutrition Programs. The grants were available to public schools, non-profit private schools, local governments, National Youth Sports Programs or 501c(3) non-profit organizations. The grant monies can be used for such needs as serving equipment, staffing, and nutrition education materials.

In addition, the Foundation also provided grant money to the non-profit Share Our Strength organization to be designated for Classroom Breakfast Programs in the New York City Metropolitan Area. The total amount of grant awards this year is $18,000.

The three Silent Hero Summer Grant recipients are:

East Texas Food Bank – Tyler, TX
Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department – Lincoln, NE

Plus, for expansion of Classroom Breakfast Programs:

Share Our Strength for New York City Metropolitan Area – New York, NY

“The Foundation received hundreds of applications from across the U.S. – from park districts, church programs, summer school programs, day camps, youth sports programs, and food banks,” says Sonya Kaster, R.D., L.D.N., S.N.S., Grant Administrator for the Silent Hero Program.  “The winning entrants demonstrated need, creativity and practicality of implementing their summer feeding programs.”

Once summer starts and the school breakfasts and lunches have stopped, millions more low-income children go hungry each day.  According to the 2010 report Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation, issued by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), in July 2009, only 16.1 children received Summer Nutrition for every 100 low-income students who received lunch in the 2008-2009 school year.  Only one in six children who needed summer food was receiving it. The federal Summer Nutrition Programs are designed to fill the need of hungry children when schools are on vacation.

The Silent Hero Grant Program was created to encourage schools and non-profit organizations to expand the reach of underutilized child nutrition programs, including the School Breakfast Program and Summer Nutrition Programs.  In February, the got breakfast? Foundation awarded seven school districts with Silent Hero Grants to implement classroom breakfast and “grab ‘n’ go” programs as a way to increase participation in the School Breakfast Program.

The mission of the got breakfast? Foundation is to ensure that every child, regardless of background, starts the school day with a nutritious breakfast in order to learn, grow and develop to his or her fullest potential. 

For information about the got breakfast? Silent Hero Grant Program contact info@gotbreakfast.org or visit the www.gotbreakfast.org website.

As part of this new Breakfast First Initiative, 21 schools in the state will get breakfast makeovers, and our own Breakfast BREAKS will be on the menu in many locations.  Although all schools in Maryland are required to serve breakfast, the focus of the new Initiative now is on alternate site breakfast programs – thus, Breakfast BREAKS is the ideal grab ‘n go solution.

Read the news article about this First Class Breakfast Initiative and view the video School Breakfast in Maryland – No Kid Hungry,  produced by Share Our Strength.  In the video, Share Our Strength, the Maryland Governor’s Office for Children, along with students, teachers, administrators, and nursing staff at Elmwood Elementary school share their experience about a School Breakfast program that’s working in their school.

LOUISIANA  SCHOOLS LEARN BENEFITS OF CLASSROOM BREAKFAST
AT “FEEDING THE FUTURE OF AMERICA” PROGRAM

Woodbury, NY, March 29, 2011 – Representatives from a dozen school systems throughout Louisiana were in attendance at the “Feeding the Future of America” Program recently in New Orleans.  In an effort to help feed hungry children, the purpose of the event was to teach schools how to increase school breakfast participation by offering Breakfast in Classroom Programs and Alternate Site Programs.

Hosted by E S Foods of Woodbury, NY, and Choice Foods of New Orleans, Louisiana, the event was held on February 22. Among the guests was Dickie Brennan from Brennan’s Restaurants, who attended on behalf of the Mayor’s Office.  Brennan is actively involved in anti-hunger advocacy in New Orleans.

Speakers included New Orleans born and raised Tony Geraci, chef and Baltimore City Schools Child Nutrition Supervisor, and Cecelia Enault, LDN, RD, the Lead Coordinator of Child Nutrition for Jefferson Parish Public Schools in Marrero, Louisiana, where she oversees the operations to serve 13,000 breakfasts and 29,600 lunch meals daily.

Enault shared with attendees her Breakfast in the Classroom Pilot Program which just launched that very week.  As a result of a Silent Hero Grant her district received last year from the got breakfast? Foundation, eight schools in Jefferson Parish were about to take part in the study.

Today, Enault reports promising results. “Our program began during the week of February 21, 2011, with 2-3 schools starting each day. Average Daily Participation (ADP) in the eight pilot schools was 45% of attendance when the program began, or about 1575 students. Currently it is estimated at 85%,” said Enault.  On average, participation has increased by 94% in the schools since the program began and averages 3055 students daily. “Comments from principals, students, and teachers have been largely positive. If the financials validate our estimates, we plan to bring the program to additional schools in the fall of 2011.”

Geraci also discussed the benefits of Universal School Programs.  In Baltimore, he implemented successful Classroom Breakfast and Alternate Site Programs throughout the city-wide school district.  As a result, he was able to increase breakfast participation from 8,500 meals per day to 45,000 meals per day.

These results were no surprise to event host E S Foods, as the company has been working hard to get the message out that Classroom Breakfast is a solution to many of the challenges schools face in offering a breakfast program.  Its flagship brand, Breakfast BREAKS, is a shelf-stable, convenient grab ‘n go meal in eco-friendly packaging – ideally suited for classroom breakfasts.  According to the Food Research and Action Center’s School Breakfast Scorecard for 2009-2010, serving Breakfast in the Classroom is a key strategy for increasing participation rates.

The event leaders from the “Feeding the Future of America” program also went to several different schools to help them on their first day of Breakfast in the Classroom. “Kids loved it and participation went way up,” says Luis Santiago, Vice President of Sales, E S Foods.  “One school went from feeding 150 kids to over 400.”

E S Foods, headquartered in Woodbury, New York, is dedicated to providing nutritious, value-added, “kid-friendly” foods for America’s school children.  For more information, visit www.esfoods.com.