Elect Dina Titus - for U.S. Congress District Three

Public News Service-NV
December 10, 2009

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – It’s often said breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but too many Nevada children aren’t being served, according to the new School Breakfast Scorecard from the Food Research and Action Center. At least 28,000 eligible low-income children may not be participating, ranking Nevada near the bottom at number 47, according to the report. The number of children participating in the School Breakfast Program is down by almost four percent and the state is missing out on $6.5 million in federal funding.

Gloria McAdam, president of Foodshare, a Hartford, Conn.-based organization working to end hunger, says the statistics prove tens of thousands of low-income children are going without a healthy start to their day.

“We all know that kids need to eat breakfast before the school day; it only makes sense that they’re going to do better in school. The research actually shows that kids who eat breakfast will do better on tests and do better in their school work.”

Nearly 100 percent of the breakfast costs for low-income children are covered by federal funding, says McAdam, and schools often just need a nudge from the public to put a breakfast program in place.

“Parents who are concerned, either about their own children or about other children in their neighborhood, can make a difference by advocating with their school system.”

Foodshare advocates schools allow children to eat the breakfast in the classroom, since many students arrive by bus, which doesn’t allow enough time visit the cafeteria. Nevada has no requirement for schools to participate in the free breakfast program.

The School Breakfast Scorecard is available at http://frac.org/pdf/breakfast09.pdf.