Happy holidays from No Kid Hungry Virginia! As we enter this time of rest to prepare for the new year, we are also reflecting on the highlights and changes from the past twelve months. Across Virginia, our partners and supporters have worked tirelessly to make sure that kids have the nutrition they need to grow and thrive, 365 days a year.
Reflecting on 2023: Top Memories
In January, we welcomed the fresh start and joined our partners in Arlington for the launch the Arlington Food Security Task Force, co-chairing the “systemic change” workgroup. We are eager to be a support to the county as they advance the goals in their Food Security Strategic Plan.
Our youth engagement work expanded in the spring to include listening sessions with dozens of students in Greensville and Wythe counties. Their time and thoughtfulness offered game-changing ideas to boost meal participation, and they informed a national-level Student Feedback Toolkit that centers student input in the design of school breakfast and lunch.
And in May, we joyfully shouted about school nutrition from the rooftops, lifting up eight cafeteria teams as our 2023 SCHOOL LUNCH HEROES. These teams exemplify the resilience, dedication, and love that are hallmarks of this critical profession – and they’re some of our favorite people in Virginia!
When the school year ended and students entered summer break, Virginia implemented summer rural non-congregate meals, thanks to the vision of state agency leaders and the commitment of local program operators. While many students look forward to the summer months, losing access to school meals can also mean losing a key source of nutrition. Establishing the ability to provide to-go meals greatly increases access to summer meals, making sure that Virginia kids are able to access healthy meals all year. Check out our media highlights to learn more about non-congregate meals, including these excellent stories from Cardinal News and Radio IQ.
This fall, we hit the road, sharing our message in presentations and at events that reach hundreds of diverse partners, like the Virginia Community Action Partnership’s “Pathways from Poverty to Prosperity Summit,” the Virginia School Nutrition Association’s Supervisor and Industry Conference, and the Virginia School Board Association’s annual convention. At the December meeting of the Virginia Department of Education’s Chronic Absenteeism Task Force, we lifted up the No Kid Hungry research that links Breakfast After the Bell to a 6% decrease in chronic absenteeism, underscoring that school nutrition should be a key partner in every division’s plan to boost attendance.
And to close out 2023, we awarded over $250,000 in grants to support school divisions with launching and expanding these innovative Breakfast After the Bell programs, like serving breakfast after the official start of the school day in classrooms or common areas. We know that this is one of the most effective strategies to increase the number of students eating breakfast in school, and we’ll share more information about these grants in the new year.
Looking Forward: Our Wishlist is Long
Despite these wins, we know that our work is not over. As we look ahead to 2024, we remain committed to ensuring that every kid has 3 meals a day, 365 days a year. For us at No Kid Hungry Virginia, that means supporting child nutrition programs like school, afterschool, and summer meals by providing critical resources to school districts like grant dollars, trainings, and resources. We will continue to advocate for actionable policy changes to improve nutrition access by modernizing the summer meals program, supporting nationwide summer EBT, expanding no-cost school meals, and more.
Sharing Our Gratitude
Finally, we want to reiterate our thanks for you and your support. To our partners, policymakers, community organizations, school nutrition staff, state agencies, and other supporters, none of this work can be accomplished without our shared commitment to make No Kid Hungry a reality. We wish you a happy and healthy break, and we will see you in 2024.
