Before we send March out like a lamb, we wanted to take a moment to look back at some of our favorite moments from LAC 2016 in Washington, D.C.
SNA’s 2016 Legislative Action Conference was held February 28 through March 1, and it was an exciting few days in our nation’s capital. Held this year at the brand-new Marriott Marquis, LAC gave us the opportunity to touch base with members and allies from across the country, and to bring our school nutrition expertise to those who create policy—policy that affects the way you do your job every day. It’s hard to pick just one favorite moment from this year’s conference—so we picked four! Here are four of our top moments from LAC 2016.
#4: #SocialMedia: How to Stay Positive, Deal with Negativity, and Expand Your Reach, with Dayle Hayes from School Meals That Rock
Always funny, always informative, Dayle Hayes’ School Meals That Rock social media breakout session was presented to a standing-room-only crowd at LAC 2016. Deftly imparting a career’s worth of social media expertise into a scant hour, Hayes gave us strategies to handle critics and positive promote school meals via social media.
#3: Connecting with Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom Stakeholders
LAC 2016 offered the opportunity to connect in person with some of our Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom stakeholders, like Cleta Long in Bibb County; don’t miss our interview with Cleta about her grab-and-go smoothie program. We also talked to folks in other parts of the country, like New Mexico, about what breakfast in the classroom is doing to help them combat food insecurity in their districts. Stay tuned to the blog in April for those stories!
#2: Hill Visits
We had the opportunity to tag along with Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom consultant Liz Campbell while she made a visit to the office of Representative Richard Hanna (R-NY). It was fascinating to see the lobbying process first-hand, and exciting to know that our representatives really are listening; Rep. Hanna was asked questions and listened to the answers. We saw dozens of SNA members during our visit to the Hill, and many of you stopped to pose for pictures for us—thank you!
#1: School Nutrition Foundation Celebration of Heroes
Of course our favorite memory of LAC 2016 was the evening we spent honoring our 2016 School Nutrition Heroes. If you haven’t already, make sure you read our profiles on each of this year’s five Heroes and check out the video profiles SNA created for each Hero as well. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when the last of the five videos aired; thank you to all five of our 2016 Heroes for the amazing work they do: Chris Burkhardt, Sandra Hearn, Jody Houston, Sam Ingram, and Suellen Smith—you inspire us!