National School Breakfast Campaign Launched
Diocesan Press Service. May 3, 1974 [74135]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- The National Council of Churches' Crusade Against Hunger reports that its School Breakfast Campaign is well underway. The campaign is being conducted in conjunction with the Food Research and Action Center of New York City.
The basic goal of the campaign is to encourage local school systems to increase their participation in the federally sponsored National School Breakfast Program. Its primary strategy is the organization of local school breakfast committees to bring the issue before local school boards and assist them in overcoming any obstacles which limit their participation.
The Crusade Against Hunger was initiated in 1970 by a three-year grant from the United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church, in the amount of $37,000 per year.
The campaign was initiated by the Crusade Against Hunger during the winter months in the 20 largest cities of the country. Staff members of the Food Research and Action Center travelled to most of these cities to conduct informational meetings and bring together church people, social service agency representatives, members of poor people's groups, parents, teachers and other citizens concerned with the problem of hunger and the welfare of school children.
Current campaign efforts are focusing on the organization of strong local committees and the development of strategies for bringing the issue before school officials. It is anticipated that additional cities will be added to the original list of 20 as the breakfast program is expanded in the present target cities.
The Crusade's campaign is prompted by its growing concern about the nutritional adequacy of the diets of American school children in the face of rapidly rising food costs, and in part significant recent changes in the federal School Breakfast legislation.
Recent Amendments to the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 make the program available to all schools, greatly increase the funds available for school breakfasts, and remove restrictions on the ways in which federal breakfast funds may be used by local program administrators. Schools can now receive up to 29.5 cents in federal reimbursements for each breakfast served free to a child from a needy family, 24.25 cents for each breakfast served at a "reduced price " (usually a nickel or a dime) to children from near-poor families, and 8.5 cents for all breakfasts sold at a "regular price " (usually 20 to 30 cents) to other school children. In many communities the federal reimbursements plus the sums received from paying children are sufficient to cover all or most of the costs of the program.
If a school can not afford to operate the Breakfast Program with the subsidies noted above, it can apply to the state school food service director to be designated as an Especially Needy School. The Federal Government will pay 100 percent of the costs of operating a Breakfast program in an Especially Needy School, up to a maximum of 45 cents for each free meal served and 40 cents for each reduced price breakfast.
While the additional funding and flexibility of the breakfast program have been welcomed by the Crusade Against Hunger and others concerned about nutrition, School Boards in many communities have not availed themselves of this opportunity to institute or expand the breakfast program in their districts. Some have had bad experiences with federal feeding programs in the past; some are concerned that federal funding may prove insufficient, creating a drain on local school funds; some are unaware of the improved program or preoccupied with other priorities. In the face of mounting family food costs, however, and conclusive evidence that children who go to school hungry can not take full advantage of the educational experience, the Crusade Against Hunger believes firmly that school children throughout the country need the breakfast program and that communities are entitled to be fully informed about the benefits available to them.
[Contact Archives for a list of 20 largest cities - Ed.]