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Child Nutrition Reauthorization Delayed in Congress

Written by Diane Chapeta

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The U.S. Senate has delayed legislative progress on the crucial Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (also known as CNR – Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act), which was set to be in committee markup on September 17, 2015. This delay may last a few months, while the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act is set to expire at the end of September. Congress will likely pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) in order to continue base funding and keep the debate going – without passing a bill that would increase funding to key programs.

Why is the Senate delaying? What is there to debate about feeding our nation’s children? While those are great questions, the answer lies in the progress that we made in the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. Mandating that students have access to healthier meals with guaranteed fruit and vegetable portions, more whole grains, less junk food for sale in schools, and lower sodium levels in school food is controversial to some, including powerful lobbyist groups.

Now is the time for individuals to act and advocate. Not only do we want CNR passed, we want to increase funding to some of the most effective, evidence-based programs there are, such as Farm to School. To quote, “Participation in federally-funded child care or school meals provided in child care, preschool, school, or summer settings is associated with a significantly lower body mass index among young, low-income children.” (Kimbro & Rigby, 2010 – find out more here).

A great way to help is to call your senators and representative. Tell them your concerns and emphasize your support to continue the program with increased funds. You can find your Illinois congressmen and their contact information here.

If you have an organization you can help by signing on the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition support letter here. You can also support increasing Farm to School funding through CNR by signing on with the National Farm to School Network here.

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ISBE Endorses Great Apple Crunch

Written by Diane Chapeta

Great Apple Crunch noGL

The Illinois State Board of Education has officially endorsed the Great Apple Crunch, an event happening in schools across the state on October 22nd, 2015. Check out the endorsement letter here: ISBE Endorses Great Apple Crunch.

Want to learn more about how your school can participate? The Illinois Farm to School Network is hosting an informational webinar on September 15th. Please register if you can attend or if you would like to receive the recording. Here is some more information about the webinar:

On September 15th at 2pm, the Illinois Farm to School Network is holding an informational webinar on how to participate in the first Illinois Great Apple Crunch – a day for students to ‘crunch’ into a local apple and learn about food! Get free materials, including menu signs and cafeteria activity worksheets. Get ideas for how to publicize your event and involve your school community. The webinar is free and open to all teachers, school food service professionals and school administrators. The webinar will be recorded and emailed to all registrants. Register here.

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Summer Meal Activities with Chicago Public Schools

Written by Diane Chapeta
Fruit and vegetable relay race

Fruit and vegetable relay race in action

During the month of August the Illinois Farm to School  Network provided three short educational activities for children who came by to receive lunches from the Summer Meals Illinois program. The lunch program is sponsored by the USDA and provides free meals all summer for Chicago children. Many other organizations in the Chicago area also participated in providing summer lessons and activities to Chicago Public Schools.

We modified a game on the USDA website available here to help get a little physical activity in while teaching children to identify fruits and vegetables and where they grow. We also had plates and markers for children to use to color their own “myPlate” with their favorite fruit, vegetable, grain, and protein to reinforce good eating habits.

We provided seeds, soil, and small pots for children to plant and take home with them to grow and discussed all the things plants need to thrive. Using McAuliffe’s school garden had the children hunt for and pick ripe green beans and identify other plants in the garden. We were also able to do a little garden maintenance in between harvesting with the children.

The challenging part of this kind of programming is the variability in the number of children attending the lunch stops. The program facilitator had days when over 50 children came, and days when less than 20 were there. It also makes it necessary to have stand alone activities, since it’s nearly impossible to have a sequence of lessons when the same children may not be there from week to week.

Despite the challenges, the children got important additional exposure to the importance of fruits and vegetables,  the opportunity to actively grow some of their own foods, and to explore the garden in a fun and engaging way.

 

Head to summerfeedingillinois.org and the USDA’s summer food website for more resources and information about summer meal programming in your community. If you’re looking for ideas for lessons and activities the USDA’s Team Nutrition resource library or the USDA Farm to School toolkit are great starts.

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“Making Farm to School a Reality” Workshops

Written by Diane Chapeta

Farm to School WorkshopsThis article is being re-posted from the original, written by Molly Gleason at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.

The Illinois Farm to School Network and Illinois Stewardship Alliance are hosting two free public programs and workshops highlighting successful Springfield and Chicago-area farm to school projects and how to get involved with making farm to school a reality in Illinois. The first program will be held on June 29th at the Jane Adams Hull House Museum on the University of Illinois Chicago Campus at 6:00pm and the second will be held July 1st at 6:00 p.m. in the Springfield Public Library Carnegie Room North.

Fueled by parents, doctors and teachers who are concerned that now over 30% of all children in the U.S. are overweight or obese, and combined with the fact that farmers receive only approximately 16 cents of every food dollar; more and more communities are turning to farm to school programs as a win-win for everyone involved. Farm to school programs across the country and in Illinois are bringing healthier, fresh food to kids through school gardens and local food procurement, instilling a greater appreciation for U.S. agriculture among school children, teachers and parents, and putting more money in the pockets of farmers.

 

The Chicago workshop will include a panel discussion featuring successful farm to school projects from the Chicago area. Panelists include Zack Grant of the University of Illinois Extension and Drew Thomas of the Chicago Public School among others. The Chicago Public School system has been a leader in Illinois when it comes to farm to school programs, whether that is through the installation of school gardens or the significant efforts to source food from local farms to be included on the menu in school cafeterias.
The Springfield workshop will follow a similar layout with panelists including local farmer Andy Heck, the food service director for New Berlin School district, and staff from Generation Healthy Kids. Generation Healthy Kids (GenH Kids) is a leader in the Springfield area when it comes to installing gardens at schools and providing educational programs for kids and parents to learn about healthy eating and local food.

 

“With farm to school programs kids win, farmers win, and communities win,” said Wes King, executive director of Illinois Stewardship Alliance. “The goal of this workshop is to highlight successful farm to school projects that could be models for others while also educating folks on how they can support positive federal policy that enables more farm to school initiatives.”

 

In addition to focusing on successful farm to school projects, the workshop aims to educate attendees about the important role federal policy plays in structuring school feeding programs.

 

Approximately every 5 years or so Congress passes and the President signs into law a large piece of legislation generically known as the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, or CNR, which funds and structures the nation’s school feeding programs; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children known as WIC; and the United States Department of Agriculture’s national Farm to School program. This year the National Farm to School Network and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition have teamed up with a bipartisan team of senators and representatives to introduce legislation titled the U.S. Farm to School Act of 2015 that aims to expand the USDA’s Farm to School programs.

 

Introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Thad Cochran, Representative Jeff Fortenberry and Representative Marcia Fudge, The Farm to School Act of 2015 (S. 569/H.R. 1061), if included in the final Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, would triple funding for the USDA Farm to School grant program and clarify eligibility for the program to include summer and after school feeding programs. The Making Farm to School a Reality workshop will include more information about The Farm to School Act of 2015 (S. 569/H.R. 1061) and how to support local and national efforts to see that it is adopted potentially giving farm to school programs in Illinois the kind of resources they need and deserve.

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