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“CELEBRATING NATIONAL SCHOOL BREAKFAST WEEK” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E332 on March 7, 2012.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CELEBRATING NATIONAL SCHOOL BREAKFAST WEEK
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HON. GWEN MOORE
of wisconsin
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to join my colleagues in celebrating National School Breakfast Week 2012.
I don't have to tell anyone that 2011 was another year of difficult economic struggles for American households. Too many families are struggling to put food on the table. And when they do, kids suffer the most.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in households that had difficulty putting food on the table. That figure includes as many as 16 million children living in a home where food is not always available. Even worse, in over 380,000 households, one or more children did not get enough to eat--they had to cut the size of their meals, skip meals, or even go whole days without food at some time during the year.
When asked by the Gallup organization in a recent food hardship survey, ``Have there been times in the last twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?'' more people answered ``Yes'' in the last six months of 2011 than in any period since the fourth quarter of 2008.
In broad swaths of the country, more than one in six households answered the Gallup question ``Yes.'' In fact, at least one in six said
``Yes'' in more than half of all Congressional districts (269 of 436 congressional districts.) In my district, according to the survey, the food hardship rate is 23 percent, almost one in four households. That is heartbreaking and even more so when you think that nearly 80 of my colleagues represent districts with even higher rates.
Thirty-seven million people--one in eight Americans--receive emergency food assistance each year through the Nation's food banks, a 46 percent increase in clients served from 2006.
As a result, public efforts to help meet this basic need are even more important. As the recession's grip takes firm hold, for millions of vulnerable children around our Nation, federally-supported school breakfast programs continue to be a lifeline.
The School Breakfast program began in 1966 as a two-year pilot program. It has become a valuable program that makes a difference every day in the lives of millions of children. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that providing availability, accessibility, and participation in the school breakfast program are some of the best ways to support the health and educational potential of children, particularly low-income children.
Eating breakfast has been shown to improve math, reading, and standardized test scores. Breakfast helps children pay attention, perform problem-solving tasks, and improves memory. Children who eat school breakfast are likely to have fewer absences and incidents of tardiness than those who do not. By eating breakfast, students get more important nutrients, vitamins and minerals such as calcium, dietary fiber, and protein. These are just a few of the known benefits.
The School Breakfast Program can readily be tailored to meet the needs of all different age groups, school schedules and physical environments. Schools use many creative service options in addition to traditional breakfast service in the cafeteria, such as Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab `n' Go Carts and Mid-morning Nutrition Breaks.
This year, the School Breakfast Week theme is ``School Breakfast--Go for the Gold,'' highlighting how eating a balanced breakfast at school can help students shine. In FY 2011 over 12 million children were able to get a nutritious school meal because of this program. In my State of Wisconsin, school breakfast participation rates have increased from 135,000 in FY 2009 to 166,000 in FY 2011, the vast majority receiving free or reduced price nutritious breakfast to jump start their school day. However, participation in the breakfast comparison lags compared to the approximately 32 million who participate in the National School Lunch Program.
Most school breakfast program students lived in impoverished families and received free or reduced price meals. For the 2009 2010 school year, to receive a free breakfast, the student needed to reside in a household earning $23,803 or less for a family of three (130 percent of the federal poverty level). For reduced price, the threshold was
$33,874 (185 percent of the federal poverty level.)
Efforts to make this program work better continue and they should. Last month, the Administration released new child nutrition rules--as required by Congress in the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010--that seek to make the same kind of changes many parents are already trying to teach their children at home. The new rule updates school meal standards to increase fruits, vegetables, whole grain, and low-fat dairy while reducing fats, sodium and sugars. This is a long overdue step that will get healthier foods on school plates each day. USDA built the new rule around recommendations from an Institute of Medicine expert panel, updated with key changes from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines. Getting the science right is critical to better nutrition and health for our children.
Additionally, the President's FY 2013 budget request includes $35 million for school meal equipment grants to help school districts purchase the equipment needed to serve healthier meals, and improved food safety. These equipment grants would support the establishment or expansion of the School Breakfast Program. Lack of adequate kitchen equipment has been cited as a reason why schools are not able to initiate or expand their breakfast programs. Congress needs to support such initiatives.
In the spirit of National Breakfast Week, I would encourage my colleagues--and in fact, all Americans--to participate in activities like the Share Your Breakfast campaign to combat child hunger. The Share Your Breakfast campaign--which brings together Action for Healthy Kids, the Kellogg Company, and other partners--is focused on ensuring more kids have access to breakfast by increasing participation in school breakfast programs. This campaign is only in its second year, but has already offered assistance to nearly 100 schools in 26 states.
This year's goal is to provide one million breakfasts to American school children who might otherwise go without. Programs like Share Your Breakfast are to be commended and help highlight the vital role that a nutritious breakfast plays in promoting educational success.
Mr. Speaker, a growing number of Americans are going hungry and federal safety-net nutrition programs, like the School Breakfast Program, are playing a crucial role in helping hardworking families, including their children, stay nourished.
Let me conclude, Mr. Speaker, by saying that though our country is in the midst of a tough economic time, I hope there remains bipartisan support for this simple statement: no child in our community or across the country should ever go through the school day hungry. The School Breakfast Program is critical to making that a reality.
I am pleased to join my colleagues in highlighting the value and success of this program and those who work every day to make sure that our future leaders, our future engineers, and scientists, and politicians or whatever else boys and girls across our Nation want to be, won't be stopped because of a growling stomach and nagging hunger.
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