Anti-Hunger Leaders Celebrate National School Breakfast Week: 3/6-3/10

SALEM, Mass. – On Friday, March 10, Project Bread, the state’s leading anti-hunger organization, Senator Joan Lovely, Mayor Robert K. McCarthy, and Salem superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike, joined school nutrition staff at Salem High School, to celebrate National School Breakfast Week (March 6-10), highlighting investments made possible by Project Bread’s $15,000 school breakfast grant this academic year. Investments include promotional support such as televisions for menu promotion and large banners and posters throughout schools, as well as kitchen and food service supplies, such as an Air Curtain Cooler in Salem High School for their cafeteria breakfast service. Salem nutrition staff debuted a new pull-apart pastry recipe during the week of celebration and rolled out hot breakfast in the cafeteria each morning, raffling off a prize on Friday for students who participated in school breakfast throughout the week. Two Salem students went home with a new school t-shirt and sweats as the raffle prize winners, and there will be more raffle winners over the next 3 months. Staff played fun music for students to start their day and set up a school breakfast-themed photo booth. Senator Lovely, Mayor McCarthy, and Dr. Zrike helped serve breakfast to students who gathered in the cafeteria to enjoy fresh blueberry and chocolate chip muffins, smoothies, cereal, granola and yogurt, and fruit options with friends before starting their classes for the day. The Friday breakfast participation count was 388 students, the most breakfast sold during one day all year at the high school. Students reviews included: “I like the smoothies” and “The muffins are the best!”

Hunger in the classroom unfortunately is a common experience, especially when 1 in 5 Massachusetts households with children are facing food insecurity. Unsurprisingly, students who eat breakfast at school are proven more likely to succeed academically and are less likely to become overweight or obese. Project Bread works with schools to integrate breakfast into the day and to design and implement a breakfast program that works for each school. Breakfast served After the Bell (rather than before school starts), can take many forms. Schools can provide breakfast in the classroom, offer students grab & go meals on their way into class, offer a mid-morning “second chance breakfast” or provide some combination of these models as viable strategies to ensure all students can start the day nourished and ready to learn.

“Many students face transportation obstacles that make arriving early to school difficult and concern about being singled out or labeled as hungry can sometimes deter students from eating school breakfast,” says Erin McAleer, Project Bread CEO. “Making breakfast part of the school day, serving it after the bell, limits stigma and eliminates common participation barriers so all students can access this vital resource. We are so grateful for districts like Brookline that work hard to ensure children don’t have to worry where their next meal is coming from and can instead focus on learning and just being kids.”

This academic year, Massachusetts is 1 of 5 states continuing to provide free school meals to all students, after the expiration of federal waivers in June. Through the FY23 state budget, $110 million has been allocated to keep children fed during the school day, and an additional $65 million has been proposed by Governor Healey and passed in the House to continue serving meals amidst increased student participation. Data from October 2022, finds over 80,000 additional students are participating in school meals in schools previously not serving free school meals to all compared to October 2019. Eliminating the barriers of cost and stigma is working to ensure students have the nutrition they need. This is why Project Bread, alongside bill sponsors Senator Sal DiDomenico and Representative Andy Vargas, has refiled legislation this January to make free school meals for all students permanent.

Without state level legislation in place, there is risk barriers to food access will return once the annual budget ends on June 30, 2023. The Commonwealth will return to a tiered-pay system that leaves out at least 26 percent of food insecure children. Currently, over half of the Massachusetts state legislature has indicated supported School Meals for All legislation and more than 120 anti-hunger partners, health care advocates, school and municipal officials, food systems experts, faith communities, children’s advocates and more have joined the Feed Kids Coalition. Those who support this effort can go to feedkidsma.org and ask their legislators to make School Meals for All a priority.

People experiencing food insecurity should call or text Project Bread’s toll-free FoodSource Hotline (1-800-645-8333), which provides confidential assistance to connect with food resources, including SNAP benefits, in 180 languages and for the hearing impaired. For more information, visit: www.projectbread.org/get-help.

About Project Bread

Project Bread, the leading statewide anti-hunger nonprofit, connects people and communities in Massachusetts to reliable sources of food while advocating for policies that make food more accessible—so that no one goes hungry. For more information, visit: www.projectbread.org.

About the Feed Kids Campaign

Feed Kids, Solve Hunger MA is a statewide legislative campaign aimed at passing School Meals for All legislation in the Commonwealth. Our diverse coalition consists of over 120 anti-hunger partners, health care advocates, school and municipal officials, food systems experts, faith communities, children’s advocates and more.

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