School Meal Programs Make A Difference

Guest Blog post by our Child Nutrition Advocacy Intern, Nicole Wright

This post is part of our month-long blog series in celebration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' "National Nutrition Month." This year's theme is, "Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day," so each of us here at Hunger Free Vermont will take a turn to share a personal goal, story or fact regarding nutrition through daily blog posts throughout the month.

When I first started to familiarize myself will all the information there is on school meals I was overwhelmed and then impressed by all the work that goes into making school meals run smoothly. There are many guidelines to follow, whether it be new dietary regulations, reimbursement brackets, or financial requirements, a lot of work goes into planning an effective and healthy meal for hundreds of students each day. One of my biggest tasks at Hunger Free Vermont is working on the SchoolMealsVT.com website, specifically, the breakfast page. As we all know, breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day and unfortunately, many students go without breakfast; due to food insecurity or that they are not hungry during the time breakfast is available at home or at school. All schools, elementary, middle, and high schools can benefit from encouraging and providing breakfasts in a variety of ways, and there are many ways! The most exciting thing I have discovered through creating the breakfast page for schoolmealsvt.com is that countless schools around the country (and a good deal in Vermont!) are starting to revamp their breakfast programs in order to feed their hungry students. It is so encouraging to see that schools are willing to try and make a difference in the lives of their students on such a personal and vital level.