Given that National School Breakfast Week was celebrated March 3-7, it’s no surprise to find a huge array of terrific school breakfast-themed stories arrive in our Google Alerts! It was tough to choose our favorites, but we narrowed down the list so we could share some of them with our readers. By the way, have you seen the theme for National School Breakfast Week 2015? Get ready to “Make the Grade with School Breakfast!” next March—we can’t wait!
Everybody’s favorite cinematic slacker “The Dude” is a big fan of school breakfast. Actor Jeff Bridges—beloved for his portrayal of “The Dude” in the classic film “The Big Lebowski.” Bridges is a longtime anti-hunger advocate, and a national spokesman for the Share Our Strength No Kid Hungry Campaign. In this online audio clip, Bridges joins founder and CEO of Share Our Strength, Bill Shore, to discuss the impact “Breakfast after the Bell” programs can have on reducing childhood hunger in America.
Speaking of the impact school breakfast can have on childhood hunger, these Missouri elementary students share why school breakfast is important to them. One fifth-grader loves school breakfast because “[i]t makes class easier.”
Our friend Dayle Hayes, MS, RD, knows for a fact that breakfast is brain power! Dayle was recently in Michigan, where higher school breakfast participation and the popularity of salad bars are just two of many great healthy school nutrition success stories. And the news that school breakfast is a powerful tool is spreading; in Pennsylvania, the Philipsburg-Osceola School District is implementing a universal school breakfast pilot to be conducted between now and the end of the school year for all students, K-12.
Of course, no school breakfast headline round-up would be complete without some news from Fuel Up to Play 60.
- File under “Adorable”! United States Senator Kelly Ayotte’s young niece, Lily, is a huge FUTP60 fan. Her efforts to bring the program to her school were inspired by watching the show “The Biggest Loser.” Nashua native Kendall Reyes, defensive end for the San Diego Chargers, paid Ayotte’s school a visit and helped kids understand the importance of eating a healthy breakfast.
- In Spokane, Washington, Logan Elementary School Students who participated in the Fuel Up to Play 60 campaign will get to celebrate their hard work with an assembly that includes visitors from the Seattle Seahawks!
- Stamford High School in Stamford, Connecticut, also received a visit from an NFL star to celebrate their FUTP60 achievements; New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich was on hand when local dairy farmer Melissa Greenback presented the school with a check for $4,777, which will be used to help implement a new Grab-n-Go breakfast program.
Finally, we couldn’t resist sharing just a couple of our favorite National School Breakfast Week 2014 headlines with you. We are already looking forward to 2015, and we are ready to “Make the Grade with School Breakfast!”
- School breakfast (and lunch) are all about the kids in Spanish Fork. To celebrate NSBW 14, Rees Elementary School invited Mayor Steve Leifson and Councilman Rod Dart to eat breakfast with the kids. Inviting local celebrities and community heroes is a wonderful way to spread the word about healthy school meals.
- Utilizing National School Breakfast Week as an opportunity to market your program is a great way to help raise the profile—and thus, the participation—of your school breakfast program. Each year SNA posts NSBW resources on their website to help school nutrition professionals celebrate breakfast in their own cafeterias and classrooms.