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Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

About a year ago Beverly Jackey, the community nutritionist for the Food Bank of Delaware, came up with a unique way of teaching kids to eat healthy.  Jackey believed that children are more willing to try nutritious new foods when they are involved in preparing them.  So Jackey and the Food Bank created a program called KID CHEF, which stands for Cooking Healthy Easy Food.

If there’s one thing Corey Chatman is passionate about, it’s making sure everyone has access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Maybe it’s because he knows what it’s like to rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for nourishment.

Our commitment to American Indian and Alaska Native leaders, members, and communities is one of great importance to the Obama administration and to me as USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. This past fall, the White House concluded its second Tribal Nations Conference which provided a venue for tribal leaders to engage in dialogue with high-ranking officials on a wide range of social, economic and political challenges facing Indian country.

I would like to continue the dialogue and invite tribal leaders or their delegated representatives to formally consult on how we can improve the health and nutrition of our children in Indian Country.

The saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.  In this same context,  it takes all of us working together to feed hungry children, especially in the summer months when even more of our nation’s kids go without proper nutrition.  The government, however, cannot solve this challenge alone.

Over 20 million children receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year through USDA’s National School Lunch Program.  For many of them, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they consume, and in the summer, many simply go without.  It is USDA’s goal to ensure that no child in the U.S. goes to bed hungry. But to accomplish this, we need the community’s support.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

In February of last year, I spoke at the National Press Club and outlined a vision and path for improving the health and well-being of kids across the nation by enhancing our nutrition assistance programs. I made a commitment that the Department of Agriculture (USDA) would continue to help bridge the nutrition gap when school is out because our efforts to combat hunger and improve nutrition cannot end when the school bell rings on the last day of the school week or year.

Staff from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service Southwest regional office was pleased to join the national non-profit, Share Our Strength, in Albuquerque, for the launch of their No Kid Hungry campaign to end childhood hunger in New Mexico.

The No Kid Hungry campaign is a public-private partnership between a diverse coalition of non- profit groups, the Food and Nutrition Service, the state of New Mexico, Share our Strength and the New Mexico Collaboration to End Hunger. In New Mexico, only one-third of eligible children participate in the Summer Food Service Program and only a little over half of children who are eligible eat breakfast at school.

Junto con nuestros colegas del Servicio de Alimentos y Nutrición de USDA, el Centro de Organizaciones de Fe y Comunitarias de USDA ha estado trabajando de cerca con los pastores en Miami, Florida para ampliar las oportunidades de proporcionar alimentos a aquellos con necesidad.  El 24 de marzo, uno de nuestros socios, la Coalición de Fe de Familias y Niños en el sur de Florida, tendrá una sesión de entrenamiento sobre el Programa de Servicio de Alimentos de Verano para proporcionar comidas gratuitas a las congregaciones que sirvan como sitios de alimentación de verano.

Each summer, children wait for the last bell of the school year.  Summer is an exciting time for children to enjoy playtime with friends, a week at camp, a family vacation, or time at the pool.  But for many children who receive free and reduced-price meals at school, summer can mean hunger.  Just as learning does not end when school lets out, neither does a child's need for good nutrition. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provides free, nutritious meals and snacks to help children in low-income areas get the nutrition they need to learn, play, and grow, throughout the summer months when they are out of school.

Celebrations always seem bigger in Texas. And the one on February 25, at Brawner Intermediate School in Granbury, Texas, was no exception.  The event  recognized the school’s invaluable partnership with dairy farmers, the Fuel Up to Play 60 program and USDA, who teamed to make an unprecedented pledge to improve health and fitness of kids across the country.  The school’s efforts are an integral component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative and just one example of the public-private partnerships that are critical to solving the challenges we face.

Cross posted from the Let's Move blog:

Last month USDA facilitated a school garden design session and since that time, landscape architects Matt Arnn and Bob Snieckus have been working hard to incorporate parent, teacher and student ideas into an ideal plan that would transform the large expanse of asphalt at Powell Elementary School in Washington, DC into a People’s Garden.

Older students envisioned racecars, tree houses, spaceships and swimming pools at their school while younger students imagined rainbows and butterflies. Parents and teachers drew images of colorful flowers, fruits and vegetables, and quiet spaces for reflection and relaxation. Many of the garden designs incorporated an area for basketball and street hockey as well as covered areas to gather for meals and cultural celebrations.