Kids Deserve Better Lunches: Let's Pay Attention to the Child Nutrition Act

By Jerusha Klemperer,

In a variation of this week's thanksgiving, 20,000 people in every state got together to break bread for a greater good. This Labor Day, hundreds of public potlucks were held in support of updating our nation’s school lunch program

At these picnics—held in parks, on farms, in backyards and school yards—communities came together in celebratory protest of a school lunch program that is broken. They ate real, home-cooked food as a demonstration of the delicious, wholesome food they believe should be a part of the lunch served in public schools around the country. 

Then, due to embattled and elongated health care reform conversations in Congress, the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, slated for the end of September, was postponed for one year. Word on the street is that they will get to it by early spring. Never mind that health care and nutrition should be interwoven conversations.  Never mind that good nutrition is prevention. Sigh.  

So what now? What to do with the raised consciousness of Americans and the fire in their belly? 

Slow Food USA is now engaging its members and leaders in a letter-writing campaign, one that focusses on kids writing to their congress people, asking them to give school nutrition directors the resources to provide better school lunch. So far over 1,800 letters have been written.  There are more in the works.  We think it’s a great way to engage kids in the democratic process, as well as a strong sign to our legislators of who school lunch reform affects. 

Obviously kids should describe what it is they want, in their own words.  If they are old enough to understand the specifics of changes they could ask for, they should do that.  The biggest change, and the one that the legislators really need to hear support for is increasing the reimbursement rate.  We are asking for $1 more per child per day. 

Congress leaves school lunch so underfunded that many schools have to rely on the overly processed foods that set kids up for a lifetime of bad eating. It’s time to provide America’s children with a school lunch that keeps them healthy and performing well in the classroom.

Jerusha Klemperer is the program manager at Slow Food USA

For more details about how to get involved:

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch/get_involved/ 

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch-view_eat_ins