Chanting in unison, “We want classroom breakfast!” more than 1,000 children ate breakfast together Saturday, October 22, at a rally sponsored by Accion America. The rally kicked off an effort to promote healthy eating habits among the fast growing Hispanic population of Texas and raise awareness about the benefits of Breakfast in the Classroom programs. 

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.