Hello, again, from Kansas City! We hope all of the attendees are enjoying themselves and getting the most out of their education sessions. For those of you who couldn’t make it to Kansas City this year, we hope to see you next year in Boston!
Today was full of excitement, and many of our ANC 2013 attendees stopped by the SNF booth—it was a busy morning! Our “Where in the world are you serving breakfast map?” is filling up nicely, though we would love to have all 50 states represented by the time the conference is over. We’re looking for folks from the Dakotas, Utah, and New Mexico among others—it only takes a second, so stop by! We have two pins representing the state of Alaska—you can’t let Alaska have more pins than a state in the lower 48! (Hey Hawaii—we need you to stop by, too!)
The Exhibit Hall opened up today, and there was a lot to see. Culinary demonstrations were held, and new products unveiled; many of the vendors are Tweeting from the Exhibit Hall floor, so check in on Twitter using the hashtag #ANC13 to see what everyone is talking about. We stopped by to visit our friends at National Dairy Council, where they are promoting Fuel Up to Play 60 as well as helping spread the word on how dairy can be incorporated into school breakfast. Stop by the National Dairy Council booth to learn more about how to expand your breakfast program, and sample some yummy treats!
We dropped in on a terrific education session in the afternoon, to hear Julie Brewer from USDA FNS present, “Feeding Children When School is Out.” Julie had guidance for those in attendance on the programs available to help bridge the hunger gap for children during the summer months. There was an active question-and-answer session at the end of the session, and Julie also shared several online resources for those looking for answers on summer feeding:
- USDA Food & Nutrition Services (Summer Food Program)
- USDA Food & Nutrition Services E-Updates
- USDA Blogs Page
- USDA on Facebook & Twitter
- USDA Food & Nutrition Services
Kathleen Stitt Award winner Kelsey Lingsch with Scott Swogger.
We also dropped in to chat with this year’s Kathleen Stitt Award winner, Kelsey Lingsch from the University of Southern Mississippi. The award was created by Kathleen Stitt, Ph.D, RD in partnership with the School Nutrition Foundation to encourage research in child nutrition topics. Kelsey’s project is entitled, “Mississippi’s First Annual Farm to School Week: Evaluation of School Participation. We’ll share more about Kelsey’s project with you in coming weeks.
Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day—school breakfast is on the menu, as well as the SNF First Timers’ reception, the unveiling of the National School Breakfast Week 2014 theme, and of course Lisa Ling at our second general session. See you tomorrow!