Maryland Supper Programs Prove Importance of Child Nutrition Act
Posted by Anne Sheridan on Friday, April 30, 2010
Her name is Michelle, and she is 12 years old. She has big, bright eyes and is clutching a binder with her name on it as she tells me how she is going to spend the rest of her day. She has grabbed the binder out of a large plastic box marked “Princeton” and tells me that this is the name of a college. I am meeting her late in the afternoon across a cafeteria table at Ashburton Elementary School in Baltimore where she and 65 other middle school “scholars” participate in “after-school academy.”
She is at first shy, and then tickled, that there are extra grown-ups around asking her questions. While we wait together for the “Community Meeting” to start, Michelle says that when it is over she and two other scholars will meet with their mentor from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
But before all this is underway, Michelle and everyone else at the after-school academy have had the chance to eat supper. At one end of the room, several scholars are still finishing up the hot dinner of chicken, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, and fruit that was delivered earlier in hot/cold lockers, and served by today’s scholar team.
Child nutrition programs like this one play a vital role in helping children, especially those in low-income families, achieve access to quality nutrition, child care, and educational and enrichment activities while improving their overall health, development and school achievement.
After the “community meeting,” the scholars break up into smaller groups, and the adults convene around another cafeteria table. There are about 12 of us, representing different organizations working to promote and expand access to child nutrition.
Maryland is one of only 14 states with an after-school supper program, and it’s clear from successes so far, that all states should have it.
We know one of the most powerful tools in ending childhood hunger is the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. The Senate version, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 will fund important programs like school breakfast, lunch and supper. Share Our Strength will ask Senators and Representatives for their support, but your voice is even more important.
Start a discussion over a cafeteria table, or your own kitchen table. Call, write or email your Members of Congress and ask that they help end childhood hunger by supporting an increase in funding for Child Nutrition Reauthorization.
April 30, 2010 | 2 comment(s) | Tags: child nutrition act, childhood hunger, maryland, supper program
Comments
2 reader comments so far.
Maybe you will want to place a facebook icon to your website. Just marked down this article, however I had to do this manually. Just my $.02 :)
Posted by rachat de credit on March 23, 2011
es muy bonito este programa xq ayudan a muchas familias
Posted by merary aquino on June 15, 2011
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