Maryland Hunger Solutions Newsletter
August 28, 2009
Back to School Means Healthy Nutritious Food During the School Year!
With the beginning of the new school year, Maryland's children and teens will need access to nutritious school meals during the school day. One way to make sure that Maryland's children and teens are getting the meals they need is to make collecting school meal applications a top priority for the community. Many schools are working diligently to enroll eligible children and teens for free and reduced-price meals. But, as many families continue to feel the effects of the recession, it is likely that many more children and teens may be eligible for the school meal programs than last year. There are many resources available from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and others to help schools collect school meal applications and certify children and teens for meals. Visit our Back to School Resources page to learn more about expanded outreach efforts and tips on how schools can capture newly eligible children and teens visit.
Help Start the School Day and the School Year with a Commitment to Nutritious Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the school day and we should start the school year with a commitment to ensuring that all eligible children and teens participate in the school breakfast program. There are many resources that provide information about how to ensure that children and teens start the school day with a healthy meal and ready to learn. For information about the school breakfast program in Maryland, innovative ways of serving breakfast to children and teens and some best practices visit our Publications section.
It's Time to Strengthen the Child Nutrition Programs!
The child nutrition programs - WIC, school lunch, school breakfast, summer and afterschool meals and the child care food programs - are among the nation's most effective programs for children, and are up for reauthorization this year. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act authorizes all of the federal school meal and child nutrition programs, which provide funding to ensure that low-income children and teens have access to healthy and nutritious foods. There are several bills making their way through Congress that begin to address some of the many ways to strengthen the child nutrition programs through access, reimbursements and nutrition. It is important to the health, nutrition and well-being of Maryland's children and teens that Maryland's congressional delegation show support for these bills. To learn more about Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization, including current bills and ways to take action, visit the FRAC website.
Maryland Food Supplement Program Grows at Tremendous Rate: County Data - July 2009
In July 2009 the Food Supplement Program caseload, at 491,262 persons, was up over the month by 13,239 people (2.8 percent increase) and over July 2008 by 119,580 people (32.2 percent increase). Maryland's participation in the Food Supplement Program continues to grow tremendously. In July 2009 the largest increase in people participating in the Food Supplement Program in Maryland over the last year took place in Queen Anne's, Prince George's, Calvert and Caroline Counties. Download the data.
