National School Breakfast Week is right around the corner (March 3-7, 2014) and we can’t wait to see photos from your celebrations around the country! Each year, we have seen the social media coverage of NSBW grow—make sure you “Take Time for School Breakfast,” and make sure you take time to tag your photos on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with the #NSBW14 hashtag!
We are also excited about the announcement from National Dairy Council and Fuel Up to Play 60—with support from Dean Foods and Share Our Strength—about the Spring 2014 “It Starts with School Breakfast” campaign! The application period is open and you have until March 31, 2014 to enter.
In addition to school breakfast coverage, in March we will bring you behind the scenes at Recipe for Success Foundation. Based in Houston, Texas, the organization puts students in touch with the food that they eat through school garden nutrition education, and chef-to-school programs. In addition to an interview with founder Gracie Cavnar, we’ll share photos of students working in the garden, cooking, and an interview with Houston’s own Chef Randy Evans of Haven, who has been with Recipe for Success since the beginning. Look for those blog posts toward the middle of the month to learn more about this organization, and how their resources can help you create a seed-to-plate program of your own.
We hope to see many of you at this year’s Legislative Action Conference. The annual conference is where policy meets practice, and you get to advise elected representatives on school foodservice; bring your passion, your expertise, and your stories to Washington, D.C. to help shape national policy on school nutrition. If you are in attendance, we also hope you will join us for our March 3, 2014, School Nutrition Foundation 50th Anniversary of School Nutrition Heroes. It will be a very special evening, honoring your colleagues, and raising money for SNF scholarships.
We have our eye on the April Farm-to-Cafeteria conference in Austin, Texas as well. Will any of you be attending? And speaking of farm-to-school, the USDA just announced the availability of new federal funds for the 2015 Farm-to-School Grant program. Interested? Learn more here.
It’s going to be a very exciting spring, with a lot of great stories, so check back often! And finally, here are a few school nutrition stories from around the country that have caught our eye recently: