Grab ‘n Go GO-GO-GO!!!! A School Breakfast Program Model
Posted by Deb Alich on Thursday, March 24, 2011
Last week I had the privilege of going to Kellom Elementary School in Omaha to observe their Grab ‘n Go school breakfast, a fairly new concept in the provision of school breakfasts to our nation’s children. I must say that it was a remarkable experience watching 400 children eat their breakfast—remarkable in so many ways!
First, it was one of the quietest and most orderly processes I’ve ever observed, especially for elementary kids. Second, watching these children and their faces as they moved through this procession pulled at my heartstrings in ways in which few experiences can compare. I felt pure joy, and sadness, as I watched these children approach and then take their food selections for the day and then stroll past us to return to their classrooms.
They were a diverse group of kids, ethnically and economically, as well as physically. You could tell that many of these children were thrilled to be getting breakfast, many because they hadn’t had eaten since lunch the day before. And you could also see in the faces of some that although they took the food, they seemed ashamed to do so. And of course, there were many enthusiastic children who didn’t think twice about the chance for or the implications of a morning meal and happily skipped off to enjoy the day’s fare. It also made me think of the millions of children in this country who don’t get this opportunity every day, and how many of them are going hungry for no reason at all.
Eric Davis, Kellom’s principal, and his staff did a great thing here. They took a meager breakfast program that was serving 200+ children a day and turned it into one in which all but 30 children are eating breakfast every day—from 200+ to 400 a day! This is an amazing achievement—and it didn’t take them years, or even one school year, to make this happen. Everyone in the school took a leap of faith together and took steps to reorganize how they started the school day and shifted from a traditional breakfast in the cafeteria to a grab ‘n go (and eat in the classroom) feeding style.
And the teachers love the program too. They use this early morning time to take roll, complete other admin tasks, have one-to-one time with students, and some even eat with the children. I spoke to a number of them and not one had anything negative to say about the breakfast program. That’s not to say that some didn’t admit they worried at first about whether this would be a good thing or not. Instead they said the kids are more calm, attentive, and their little brains are soaking up the lessons like sponges; they have more energy, and the light in the eyes of so many are now bright and clear, and they are smiling. And this is the way it should be, at every school in America, every day.
Oh, and it was also great to see that just as the children were orderly in getting their breakfast, they are just as fastidious in cleaning up after themselves. Bins for trash—and recycling (a new concept to most)—are stationed throughout the halls for the kids to dispose of their trash when done eating. Needless to say, the janitorial staff is as pleased as everyone else at Kellom with the program.
Kellom Elementary’s Grab ‘n Go breakfast program is a perfect example of the kind of breakfast program we’re helping to bring to schools all across the country. This is the way it should be, at every school in America, every day.
Related blog post: http://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/2011/01/cooking-matters-satellite-site-takes-off-at-shaw-middle-school/
March 24, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: childhood hunger, school breakfast, schools
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