Since 1946, the National School Lunch Program has provided nutritionally balanced, low-cost or no-cost lunches in schools to improve the health and wellbeing of America’s children. Research shows school meals may be the healthiest food children receive in a day, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Maggie Paulk
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Celebrate National School Lunch Week!
USDA celebrates National School Lunch Week, a celebration of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), October 10th-14th, 2022. This year’s theme is “peace, love, and school lunch,” a fun 70’s theme that will make your school cafeteria a little groovier this week.
School Nutrition Association recommends getting involved by…
- Decking out your cafeteria with NSLW posters and other artwork portraying nutritious lunch foods. This is a great opportunity to make use of the annual theme in the way you illustrate and depict your lunchtime favorites. If your school is open to it, you can have students create a mural or permanent artwork for year-round display.
- Getting in touch with local personalities like business owners, elected officials, athletes, news anchors, musicians, or someone else your students will recognize, and invite them to stop by your cafeteria at lunchtime to eat with the students. If you can’t find a local celebrity, you can always have the school mascot or ask a volunteer to dress up as a movie or TV character.
- Inviting teachers, administrators or even your school principal to stand in as guest servers for lunch one day.
- Offering a tasting of new menu items and talk to students about the nutritious benefits they get from certain foods. Tell them they get vitamins and minerals from all the colorful fruits and vegetables or explain to them the way whole-grains provide carbs for sustained energy during recess or sports practice.
The National School Lunch Program was created in 1962 under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to bring awareness to the importance of nutrition in schools, as proper nutrition is essential to allowing schoolchildren to thrive inside and outside of the classroom. NSLP is a federally assisted meal program administered through FNS that provides schoolchildren with low-cost or free lunches that are nutritionally balanced. NSLP services nearly 30 million children every single school day.
The Federal Research and Action Center (FRAC) wants you to join them in the following activities to celebrate the week…
1. Monday, October 10th: Shout-out a School Lunch Champion
2. Tuesday, October 11th: Raise Your Hand for Healthy School Meals for All
3. Wednesday, October 12th: Support Child Nutrition Provisions in Child Nutrition Reauthorization
Join FRAC in telling Congress to speak out in support of the “Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act” which would expand the Community Eligibility Provision, making a significant step in the direction of #SchoolMeals4All
4. Thursday, October 13th: Share Your Story: What Has Free School Meals for All Meant for You?
FRAC is working hard to achieve Healthy School Meals for All throughout the country. Use this form below to share how free school meals in the 2020-2021 or 2021-2022 school year helped your family or the families you work with. If your school no longer offers free meals to all students, please share how it is impacting you.
5. Friday, October 14th: Join a School Lunch Twitter Chat
You can join in on the celebration on social media by using #NSLW22 and #peaceloveandschoollunch.
Learn More About National School Lunch Program
