Summit Kicks Off Statewide School Breakfast Challenge
(PHILADELPHIA) October 17th, 2013 – More than half of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals in Pennsylvania are not enrolled in school breakfast programs. To get more students to start their day off right, Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), the Coalition Against Hunger and other supporters worked with the Governor’s office and the PA Dept. of Education’s Division of Food and Nutrition to hold the state’s first School Breakfast Summit hosted by Governor Tom Corbett and First Lady Susan Corbett held today at the Governor’s residence in Harrisburg.
The summit kicks off the Pennsylvania School Breakfast Challenge, also co-chaired by the Governor and First Lady, which aims to get more children to eat breakfast at school. Schools that participate in the challenge can receive technical support and equipment to help improve their breakfast programs. The schools that make the greatest strides in breakfast participation will receive cash prizes and other awards when the challenge ends in spring 2014.
“Too many children in Pennsylvania are not eating breakfast on a daily basis,” said Kathy Fisher, Family Economic Security Director for PCCY. “The School Breakfast Challenge is a great way to entice schools and provide them with supports to make sure their students are fed and ready to learn.”
Pennsylvania ranks 38th in school breakfast participation. Studies show that children who eat breakfast are healthier and perform better in school.
“It’s hard for students to concentrate in class if their stomachs are rumbling,” said Julie Zaebst, Policy Center Manager for the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger. “A healthy breakfast is a simple thing that schools can provide to improve academic achievement and increase our children’s long-term potential for success.”
For more information on the School Breakfast Challenge and to see a full list of supporters, please head to: www.hungercoalition.org/breakfast