Here’s some food for thought: school breakfast keeps kids focused, and promotes overall health and wellness. Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States took this notion to the next level by supporting School Breakfast Week.
On Thursday March 6, Kaiser Permanente was delighted to celebrate National School Breakfast Week (March 3-7) with 3rd and 5th grade students and their teachers at Bancroft Elementary in Northwest Washington, D.C. Representatives from D.C. Hunger Solutions, the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent and D.C. Public Schools worked with Kaiser Permanente to make the event a success.
Children poured into the brightly colored cafeteria to see Kaiser Permanente’s educational theatre program actors perform a special quiz show featuring Doc Broc, a giant broccoli mascot.. Students and teachers answered breakfast nutrition trivia about getting enough calcium and choosing breakfast foods with the right combination of carbohydrates and protein. After all of the food for thought, students returned to their classrooms to enjoy a healthy breakfast.
“Kaiser Permanente is committed to working with our partners to create a culture of health and wellness throughout the communities we serve, and we believe it is especially important to support best practices where children live, learn and play, ” said Alice Patty, Senior Program Manager, Community Health Initiatives, Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic states.
School breakfast is important for many reasons. We know that school breakfast programs work to reduce hunger and support student achievement, health and well-being. According to the Food Research and Action Center’s School Breakfast Scorecard, Washington D.C. was ranked number one in supporting school breakfast for the 2012 – 2013 school year! This level of participation sets the precedent for schools around the country.
To underscore the District’s success, D.C. Hunger Solutions, the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent and D.C. Public Schools also launched a special school breakfast contest to engage parents and teachers in celebrating the district’s accomplishments. The contest will continue until Friday, March 21st. Both schools and students will be eligible for prizes. The first place winner will receive a $1,000 grant for their school.
To learn more about the benefits of school breakfast or about this effort in D.C. schools, email Alex Ashbrook at aashbrook@dchunger.org.
Visit @KPMidAtlantic on twitter to see more coverage of this great celebration. Special thanks to Shana Selender, Senior Public Relations Consultant for Kaiser Permanente, for this story.
