Advisory Board members from the got breakfast? Foundation participating in this panel included Tami Cline, PhD, RD, SNS, Cline Consulting and Y-Pulse, LLC; Cecelia Enault,Child Nutrition Coordinator, Jefferson Parish Public Schools, Jon Dickl,  MBA, SNS, Director, Food & Nutrition Services, Knox County Schools, Tony Geraci, Director, Child Nutrition, Baltimore City Public Schools; Sonya Kaster, RD, LDN, SNS, PHX Consulting.  As a member of the Advisory Board, I too took part and wanted to share some of the key messages expressed by our expert guests.

Key Messages:
• Whether city or rural, high or low free and reduced population – the goal is the same:  Feed children breakfast.  Use the tools you already have – professional and school support.  Tie in with those folks that your kids can relate to.  – Tony Geraci, Director of Food and Nutrition for Baltimore City Public Schools

• Results of an April 2010 School Breakfast Cost and Participation Survey were presented by Advisory Board member Tami Cline, PhD, RD, SNS.  A key finding: “Increases in participation are dramatic after implementing Classroom Breakfast.” In addition, costs associated with serving Classroom Breakfast or at alternate sites are not more costly than traditional service.  In fact, reported costs for this survey indicated that it may be less.

Things to remember when implementing breakfast in the classroom:

• Bring in all the stakeholders – administration, custodial, teachers, etc.

• Start with a manageable number of pilot campuses – find campus champions who will spread the message of the importance of.breakfast; one successful campus to build on is the best way to start.  Build on the successes.  One key success is the relationships fostered between students and teachers.  A third grade teacher in one of our schools said that the students trusted them more and connected with them better after implementing the Breakfast in Classroom program.     – Jon Dickl, MBA, SNS, Director, Food & Nutrition Services, Knox County Schools  in Tennessee

• Remember to keep the plan flexible.  Each campus will have their own unique circumstances; tailor your program to their needs.

• Speak in terms that mean something to your audience.  Principals:  A healthier child translates to higher attendance rate, more state funds.  Teachers:  well-nourished students can learn better, less classroom disruptions, fewer morning nurse visits.

• Look at all your options:  Breakfast in the classroom, second chance breakfast after 1st period, breakfast carts in the halls or wherever students congregate. – Cecilia Enault, RD, Coordinator of Child Nutrition for Jefferson Parish Pubiic Schools in Louisiana

NPR story on childhood hunger

E S FOODS’ GRAB ‘N GO GOES “GREEN”
NEW BREAKFAST BREAKS® TO HELP SCHOOLS “FEED MORE, SAVE MORE”

Woodbury, New York, July 7, 2010 – E S Foods will be unveiling its newly redesigned Breakfast BREAKS to school foodservice professionals at next week’s School Nutrition Association’s Annual National Conference (ANC) in Dallax, Texas. The new grab ‘n go offers numerous benefits to schools and kids, including eco-friendly pouch packaging, juice pouches instead of juice boxes, expanded snack and cereal options, a 63% reduction in waste – and becaue of these efficiencies – more affordable pricing so schools can “Feed More. Save More.”

 “We are extremely excited about the makeover given to our flagship brand,” says Gary Davis, CEO of E S Foods. “We are always striving to develop innovative products that emphasize portability, convenience, and nutrition to better serve our customers. The new Breakfast BREAKS accomplishes all that. The redesign is a fun, new look to appeal to kids, it’s affordable for schools, and it’s more environmentally friendly – a win-win for everybody.”

 Available in a dozen varieties, the new shelf-stable Breakfast BREAKS 3-packs contain cereal, juice pouch, and a nutritious snack.  Some of the changes include juice pouches instead of juice boxes to appeal to all ages, expanded snack options and more cereal choices, including whole grain and low sugar.

“Not only is it nutritious, we think the packaging will get kids’ attention, and at the same time,  it’s eco-friendly, reducing waste by 63%,” says Amy Josephson, Vice President of Marketing, E S Foods. The new pouch packaging is available in four different vibrant colors with 24 rotating humorous headlines for kids and tweens.

FEED MORE.  SAVE MORE.
 “In these economic times, we understand the financial difficulties that school districts face,” says Luis Santiago, Vice President of Sales, E S Foods.  “That’s why we’ve made Breakfast BREAKS more affordable through improved efficiencies.” This effort resulted in E S Foods’ new campaign to help schools “Feed More. Save More.”

 Research, student sampling and testing all led to the new Breakfast BREAKS which has always been geared for grab ‘n go use, especially classroom breakfast.  Research shows that one of the best ways to increase participation is by offering classroom breakfast. 

According to findings of the 2009 School District Census Report, a national survey by Foodservice Director magazine, the average cost of cafeteria-served breakfast is $2.05 per meal, with labor at 51% of that cost.  By changing to a classroom breakfast or alternate site breakfast program, participation can increase by as much as four times, thus making school breakfast potentially profitable. Utilizing prepackaged meals drives down labor costs per meal and results in feeeding many more children breakfast each day.

Breakfast remains a priority for E S Foods because of the millions of hungry children who do not get an adequate breakfast each day.  While almost 32 million kids eat school lunch each day, only 11 million eat school breakfast.  Although the federally-funded School Breakfast Program exists, some 14 million eligible children are not being reached each school day.  Breakfast BREAKS can be part of the solution to increasing participation.

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 about     E S Foods and its new Breakfast BREAKS, visit www.esfoods.com.

Learn More >

Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County in California Awarded Silent Hero Summer Grant from got breakfast?® Foundation

Woodbury, NY, June 23, 2010 – The  got breakfast?® Foundation recently awarded the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County in Irvine, California, one of eight Silent Hero grants.  The grants were available to public schools, non-profit private schools, local governments, youth sports programs or 501c(3) non-profit organizations that participate in the federal Summer Nutrition Program. Second Harvest’s Summer Food Program provides meals five days a week to over 3,000 children through 35 sites.

“The major challenge Second Harvest is facing this summer is the increased number of children living in poverty. Currently, in Orange County 43% of our public school children rely on the Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Program as a steady source of food security and nutrition,” explains grant recipient Joe Schoeningh, Director.  The $5,000 award will be used to help pilot Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County’s Missing Meals program. 

 Missing Meals is designed to compensate for the operational limitations of Summer Food sites and ensure children are able to start the day with a healthy breakfast.

“Some of the Summer Food Program sites are not able to open before 10:00 a.m. and therefore do not qualify for a reimbursable breakfast,” says Schoeningh. “The Missing Meals program addresses this issue by sending Good Morning Gear kits home in a backpack with the child that has nutritious breakfast items for the week.”

“We were impressed by the creativity and thoroughness of the research that went into developing the Missing Meals program,” says Sonya Kaster, R.D., L.D.N., S.N.S., Grant Administrator for the Silent Hero Program.  

Once summer starts and the school breakfasts and lunches have stopped, millions more low-income children go hungry each day.  According to the 2008-2009 report Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation, issued by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), of the 17 million low income children participating in school lunch, only three million were reached in the 2008 summer feeding program.  The federal Summer Nutrition Programs are designed to fill the need of hungry children when schools are on vacation.

The Foundation received hundreds of applications from across the U.S. The winning entrants demonstrated need, creativity and practicality of implementing their summer feeding programs.

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

Since 1983, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County has provided more than 265 million pounds of safe and nutritious surplus food to now over 450 charitable non-profit organizations throughout Orange County. For more information about Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County or to learn how to help, visit www.feedoc.org

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

got breakfast?® Foundation Announces Silent Hero Summer Grant Winners

Woodbury, NY, May 18, 2010 – The got breakfast?® Foundation this week awarded eight Silent Hero Grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to participants in the federal Summer Nutrition Program.  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.  

“The response was unbelieveable,” says Sonya Kaster, R.D., L.D.N., S.N.S., Grant Administrator for the Silent Hero Program.  “The Foundation received hundreds of applications from across the U.S., requesting more than $6 million in funding to provide summer meals.  We received applications from park districts, church programs, summer school programs, day camps, youth sports programs, and more.  The winning entrants demonstrated need, creativity and practicality of implementing their summer feeding programs.”

The eight Silent Hero Summer Grant recipients are:

St. Louis Department of Human Services – St. Louis, MO
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago – Chicago, IL
Bridgeport Board of Education – Bridgeport, CT
Chicago Dept of Family & Support Services – Chicago, IL
Indianapolis Parks – Indianapolis, IN
Somerville Public Schools – Somerville, MA
Whole Again – Cincinnati, OH
Second Harvest of Orange County — Irvine, CA

Once summer starts and the school breakfasts and lunches have stopped, millions more low-income children go hungry each day.  According to the 2008-2009 report Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation, issued by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), of the 17 million low income children participating in school lunch, only three million were reached in the 2008 summer feeding program.  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 now, Summer Nutrition Programs.   To be considered for the summer feeding grant, projects were to be based on creating, continuing or expanding federal Summer Nutrition Programs. “We wanted to reward those silent heroes who will expand their reach to offer summer meals to kids – whether it’s classroom breakfast in summer school, or breakfast at day camps,” says Kaster.

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.

Former Senator George McGovern Joins New York City Coalition Against Hunger to Honor got  breakfast?® Founder Gary Davis, Speaker Christine Quinn, and WNBC Reporter Melissa Russo

 “14 million in-need children not being reached in federal school breakfast programs” –  Senator George McGovern

New York, NY, May 7, 2010 – Former Senator George McGovern was the featured speaker at the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) Spring Event, honoring Gary Davis, Founder of the got breakfast? Foundation, Christine Quinn, Speaker of New York City Council and Melissa Russo, WNBC Anchor.  The event, held Monday night at Union Square in New York City, included elected officials, public spokespeople, and advocates who together urged all levels of government to take the lead in ending hunger in New York City.

The evening highlighted the important work that McGovern, Quinn, Russo, and Davis have accomplished.  Senator McGovern focused his speech upon the 22 million children, many of whom are from low income families, that are eligible to receive school breakfast each day in our nation’s public schools.  McGovern cited a Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) 2009 report which indicated that there are still some 14 million eligible in-need children, not being reached in our schools’ breakfast programs.  McGovern went on to state that many of these children are recognized by the USDA as living in food insecure households.

“You cannot expect to educate a child on an empty stomach nor can you expect that child to reach his physical and mental potential without providing a balanced nutritious breakfast each day.” said McGovern. “Allowing these 14 million children in need to continue not to be reached with breakfast each day leads to obesity, low energy, inability to function in the education environment and in many cases hunger.”

 McGovern stated that there is a guaranteed solution – universal mandated classroom breakfast.  Simply instituting classroom breakfast in limited schools and classrooms has not and will not achieve the objective of reaching the maximum in-need children with breakfast each day.   McGovern concluded his address by urging all those with a vested stake in school breakfast including the foodservice workers, parents, school administrators and politicians to join the choir and let the total well-being of our nation’s children become their legacy.

NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn referenced the 95 percent-plus participation that Newark, N.J., realizes from a mandatory classroom breakfast initiative.  However, at this point classroom breakfast in NYC is selective and not mandatory, thus overall NYC breakfast participation is still less than 25 percent, leaving over 500,000 inner-city, in-need kids not being reached with school breakfast.

Gary Davis, Founder of got breakfast? explained, “It’s our mission to help 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. We aim to help increase access to breakfast programs to fight obesity, raise test scores and improve overall health.”

“George McGovern’s lifetime of fighting hunger at home and abroad has saved more lives from starvation than any American alive today. Christine Quinn, Gary Davis, and Melissa Russo have picked up the anti-hunger ball for their generations and have also achieved significant progress,” said Joel Berg, executive director of NYCCAH.  For more information about NYCCAH, visit their website at www.nyccah.org.

“During these difficult economic times, it is more important than ever to work together across federal, state, and local offices to support children in need. We look forward to these Recovery Act dollars supporting children this summer since the lack of nutrition for children during summer recess can lead to long term concerns such as illness and other health issues throughout the school year,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, Carmen R. Nazario. “HHS and USDA are working diligently to help ensure that TANF funds are available to states to expand participation in the SFSP and ensure that children return to school healthy and ready to learn.”

Read the USDA’s full news release.

March 29, 2010

Dear Ms. Rivas,

We here at E S Foods (formerly East Side Entrees) applaud your efforts and outreach to the School Nutrition Community. As a manufacturer of products that are served in schools throughout the country, we are cognizant of the nutrition challenges affecting our nation’s children.

As foodservice professionals you face a daunting task – providing children nutritious, well balanced meals that meet USDA requirements and fall within a limited budget. As a partner, we respect your responsibilities and applaud your professionalism.

We all know that school foodservice is often the scapegoat for larger social issues. In many instances school foodservice is negatively stereotyped. Everyday we meet with foodservice professionals and we know your concern for fat, sugar, sodium content and above all nutritionally balanced kid friendly affordable meals

Our primary focus in conjunction with the “got breakfast ?” foundation is helping schools to reach the 22 million children eligible for free or reduced priced meals, most of whom live in food insecure households. For many of these kids the only real meal they receive each day is at school.

The USDA has many programs that can effectively and efficiently reach these children with nutritious, well balanced meals. These include breakfast (classroom and alternate site), after school meals, supper programs, summer feeding. E S Foods is committed to “nourishing our future” by nourishing our children. We have and will continue to invest in programs that assist schools in reaching and feeding more children.

We are proud to partner our efforts with the members of SNA and the USDA. We believe that in this great country every effort must be made to properly and efficiently feed every eligible child and particularly those in most need.

Very Truly Yours,

Gary A. Davis

USDA leadership will host the school nutrition events in regions throughout the country where participants will include food service workers, school officials, community and advocacy members, federal, state and local officials, parents and students.

Administration priorities include eliminating barriers that keep children from participating in school nutrition programs, improving the quality of school meals and the health of the school environment, and enhancing program performance.  Let your voice be heard by the Administration and the public.

Dates and locations for the school nutrition events include:

Week of April 5th, 2010
Little Rock, Ark.
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton

April 13, 2010
South Carolina
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Administrator Julie Paradis

Tuesday, April 28, 2010
Las Vegas, Nev.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP) Audrey Rowe

Wednesday, April 28 or 29, 2010
Orlando, Fla.
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton

Week of May 10, 2010
Detroit, Mich.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP) Audrey Rowe

Week May 17th, 2010
New Haven, Conn.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP) Audrey Rowe

Date: May 17, 2010
Location: Montana
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Administrator Julie Paradis

Week of May 24, 2010
Indianapolis, Ind.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP)  Audrey Rowe

May 20 or 21, 2010
Davis, Calif.
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton

Additional details will be made available closer to the event date.  More information can be found at http://www.usda.gov/.