{"id":13481,"date":"2024-09-03T14:10:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T14:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/virginia\/?p=13481"},"modified":"2024-09-03T14:10:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T14:10:07","slug":"food-is-the-most-important-school-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/virginia\/2024\/09\/03\/food-is-the-most-important-school-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Is the Most Important School Supply"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Virginia<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, families, educators, and kids are heading back to their classrooms for another year of learning. Unfortunately, in <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Virginia<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, as many as <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 in 7<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> children are facing food insecurity. For these students, a healthy meal is the most important school supply &#8211; as important to their learning as a new notebook and pencils. With the high costs of food, fuel, and other essentials, many hardworking families are struggling to make ends meet. School meals programs help take some of the burden off of these families, making sure kids are able to access nutritious meals every day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Why School Meals Matter<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">School meals are a <\/span><b>healthy, convenient, and inclusive <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">way to ensure students have the nutrition they need to thrive in the classroom and beyond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Healthy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: School meals conform to nutritional guidelines, making sure that kids are getting the fruits, veggies, and proteins they need to grow and be healthy. In fact, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/now.tufts.edu\/2021\/04\/12\/study-finds-americans-eat-food-mostly-poor-nutritional-quality-except-school\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> shows that for many children, the meals they eat at school are the most nutritionally balanced meals they get all day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Convenient<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: School meals can save busy parents the work of having to prepare breakfast and lunch each morning.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Inclusive<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: School meals help create a sense of community, as students have time to bond with each other and hone skills like sharing and communication. In over 1,000 schools in Virginia, meals are available to <\/span><b>ALL <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">children, regardless of income.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>School Meal Applications and CEP\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many school divisions in Virginia participate in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fns.usda.gov\/cn\/community-eligibility-provision\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which allows eligible schools to provide breakfast and lunch at no cost to all students, without families paying a fee or submitting an application.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, CEP is not an option everywhere. Virginia has roughly 40 school divisions that have no CEP opportunities, or CEP opportunities at a limited number of schools. In these divisions, families at certain schools may need to submit an application form to determine the cost of meals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are a parent or caregiver living in one of <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1VWIiU5WWjgQkX_bI9IIudHTmVF_c5I3B_vCV76hHVjI\/edit?gid=1847837955#gid=1847837955\">these divisions<\/a>, make sure your back-to-school checklist includes applying for free school meals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You should fill out your school division\u2019s form even if you\u2019re not sure whether you qualify for free meals. School meals applications may qualify families for additional benefits, like discounted exam fees and college applications, extracurriculars, scholarship opportunities, and even home wifi. They can also help your child\u2019s school secure additional classroom resources that will support all students\u2019 education.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>If you have school aged children, be sure to <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1VWIiU5WWjgQkX_bI9IIudHTmVF_c5I3B_vCV76hHVjI\/edit?gid=1847837955#gid=1847837955\">fill out an application<\/a> for free or reduced price meals this school year!<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Spread the word, too, and encourage your friends and family to contact their children\u2019s school to learn more. Do you work at a school division and want to spread the word about school meals? Check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1We2G4t-4XUM_C9ZtIZy4930abwKD8AMNVLUurHTgWZo\/edit\">marketing toolkit <\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">for social media captions and graphics.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No Kid Hungry <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Virginia<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is working to ensure every child in <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Virginia<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> can access the healthy school meals they need to grow up healthy and strong. We do this through providing grants to launch and improve school meals programs; advocating for policies that connect kids with nutrition; building awareness about the impacts of childhood hunger; and offering tools, resources, and training to help build and maintain successful school meals programs. Looking for assistance? Reach out to Sarah Steely, No Kid Hungry Virginia Director, at ssteely@strength.org.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Across Virginia, families, educators, and kids are heading back to their classrooms for another year of learning. Unfortunately, in Virginia, as many as 1 in 7 children are facing food&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Food Is the Most Important School Supply - VIRGINIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nkh-state-nkh-state.pantheonsite.io\/virginia\/2024\/09\/03\/food-is-the-most-important-school-supply\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food Is the Most Important School Supply - VIRGINIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Across Virginia, families, educators, and kids are heading back to their classrooms for another year of learning. 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