School Nutrition Heroes from Springfield Elementary in Millard, NE.
Child hunger should be non-negotiable. That’s why Nebraska SNAC (Student Nutrition Action Committee) works to make sure federal programs that feed kids are working the best that they can!
As in 2024 (see recap blog) and since 2020, Nebraska SNAC has educated and engaged key child nutrition stakeholders and identified, developed and shared resources, training and best practices statewide.
The year is almost over and we wanted to update you all, our community stakeholders, with projects we’ve accomplished! Find projects and initiatives below divided by our small groups:
School-Time (including work on School Breakfast / Lunch / Community Eligibility (CEP) / Provision 2)
This group decided on these goals for the year:
- Support more students eating in schools by doing outreach with CEP/Provision 2/alternative breakfast model info.
- Help more schools serve more kids at breakfast.
For the first goal, we sent educational info to all schools and hosted a webinar on Provision 2, an option for schools to serve free meals to all students at breakfast or lunch, plus all kinds of other options to increase breakfast participation. Over 100 people registered and attended!
For the second goal, SNAC hosted a Nebraska School Breakfast Challenge for the second year this past spring. 17 schools competed to earn points by completing activities that increased access to school meals. Following the competition, schools across the state committed to continuing some of the most impactful activities they tested including running an alternative breakfast model, taste testing with students, and seeking community input. Read a Challenge recap here.
Out-of-School Time (including work on Summer Food Service Program / After School Meals / Farm To School)
The goal for this group was simple:
- Increase participation in SFSP and rural non-congregate (RNC) across Nebraska.
To accomplish this, we hosted four Summer Food Service Program rural non-congregate (RNC) webinars from December to March to promote the new program that allows summer sponsors to offer delivery or grab and go meals to kids in rural areas. We engaged 198 people in these webinars or by following up after!
We also sent emails, presented at conferences, and created materials that can help spread the word. Summertime will have fewer hungry kids because of this outreach!
Whole Group
Finally, we worked as a full group to recognize the hard work that goes into serving school and summer meals to kids by hosting the 5th year of our Nebraska School Nutrition Heroes event! We collected over 60 comments from Nebraska community members and celebrated their work via social media and this webpage. We also mailed around 500 gold medals to cafeterias around the state so that staff can recognize one another year round by bestowing and wearing some bling.
In conclusion…
Times are tough but the work continues! Thanks to all the participants in SNAC and and especially local school nutrition directors for your hours of work devoted to supporting not just the kids in your district, but kids statewide.
If you are a Nebraska child nutrition stakeholder and want to be a part of our efforts, please read more here or reach out to Eric!
