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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2003
CONTACT:
Marion Kalb (530) 756-8518, marion@foodsecurity.org
Thomas Forster (202) 543-8602, thomas@foodsecurity.org
"Healthy
Kids: America's Farmers Feed America's Children"
Proposal Announced by the Community Food Security Coalition
Washington,
DC - The Community Food Security Coalition today announced
their campaign to secure Congressional passage of "Healthy Kids
- America's Farmers Feed America's Children." The 300-member national
coalition wants America's school children to increase their consumption
of healthy food while creating new produce sales for nearby farmers.
Every year through the federally funded National School Lunch
Program, American schools purchase billions of dollars of food
to make 27 million lunches a day. "The goal of 'Healthy Kids'
is to help children develop healthy eating habits that will last
a lifetime while providing a new, consistent market for local
farmers. It's a natural link," said the Coalition's Farm to School
Director, Marion Kalb.
Every five years Congress re-authorizes the Child Nutrition Act,
which funds the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs,
Summer Food Service, and other nutrition programs that are a life-line
for millions of American children. Administered by the U.S. Dept.
of Agriculture, these funds go through state departments of education
to local school districts, which use the funds to purchase food
for their meal programs. The proposal announced by the Coalition
would provide grant funds of up to $100,000 per school district
to establish "farm-to-cafeteria" programs. Grants will be awarded
only once and will help schools purchase equipment, provide staff
training, conduct menu planning, locate sources of locally produced
food, purchase food, and develop food and farm education programs
such as farm visits and school gardens.
The Coalition's "Healthy Kids" initiative is currently part of
two Congressional bills, one sponsored in the House of Representatives
(H. 2626) by Representatives Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ron Kind (D-WI)
and the other in the Senate (S. 995) sponsored by Senator Patrick
Leahy (D-VT). Rep. Upton declared that farm to school projects
"will put farm-fresh produce on the plates of youngsters while
keeping our local farmers in business." Rep. Kind concurs, "Having
our local farmers feeding our children in the local schools is
a win for everyone."
At one elementary school in Santa Monica, California, a small
fraction of the students formerly chose food from the cafeteria's
salad bar. But when the salad bar replaced it standard ingredients
with produce it purchased from the local farmers' market, demand
rose twenty-fold. According to Santa Monica School Food Service
Director, Tracie Thomas, "There's nothing like giving kids the
healthy option of eating farm-fresh fruits and vegetables. It's
time USDA made it easier for all local school districts to buy
from local farmers."
Former California State Child Nutrition Director Marilyn Briggs
stated in testimony to the Senate Agriculture Committee on this
subject that "linking schools and farms creates win-win benefits
of healthy children, healthy local economies, and healthy communities.
It also can create strong partnerships between not only schools
and farms, but also parents, non-profit organizations, the USDA
and state departments of agriculture."
The Coalition believes that the "Healthy Kids" proposal is not
only good for schools and school children, it will help establish
new markets for farmers who want to sell their products to schools
in their region. "Selling to my local schools is a great way to
diversify my marketing and stay in business," said Postville,
Iowa farmer Michael Nash.
The Community Food Security Coalition is a non-profit organization
based in Los Angeles, CA with offices in Washington, DC and Sacramento,
CA. The Coalition promotes comprehensive solutions to the nation's
food and farming problems. It conducts policy research and education,
assists communities with a variety of food, nutrition, and agriculture
issues, and prepares and distributes reports on new approaches
to solving problems, especially at the local level. Community
food security is defined as "all persons obtaining at all times
a culturally acceptable and nutritionally adequate diet through
local, non-emergency sources."
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