South Windsor HAT Presents: “Hunger in South Windsor”

Recently, the South Windsor Hunger Action Team (HAT) recorded a presentation at Town Hall on Hunger in South Windsor. Town Council member, Dr. M. Saud Anwar, began the presentation by discussing the scope of the problem of hunger in South Windsor. Beatrice Maslowski, a Community Network Builder at Foodshare, educated listeners on Foodshare’s role in South Windsor due to partnerships with The Bridge, Mobile Foodshare, and the South Windsor HAT. She noted that currently 13.5% of South Windsor’s students are eligible for free/reduced-cost meals, and that number has increased 48% over the last ten years. 

Dr. M. Saud Anwar, Beatrice Maslowski, Pastor Randall Pekari, Dr. Andy Paterna, & Andrea Cofracesco

Pastor Randall Pekari spoke passionately about witnessing food insecurity and why Our Savior Lutheran Church wanted to open The Bridge, South Windsor’s newest pantry. The Bridge provides food and gently used clothing to anyone in need. Dr. Andy Paterna followed with information on the South Windsor Food Alliance and their work with the South Windsor Farmers Market, school gardens at four schools, healthy community workshop series, and supporting the town community gardens. 

Andrea Cofrancesco of South Windsor Human Services, provided insight into the services available to South Windsor residents including: a client choice food pantry, Meals on Wheels, Congregate Lunch at the Senior Center, fuel assistance, case management, transportation assistance, WIC and SNAP referrals, along with youth and senior services.  The presentation ended with a discussion on accessing services and the need for donations and volunteers.


For information on Hunger Action Teams, please contact Beatrice Maslowski.

FRAC Releases School Breakfast Toolkit for Principals

"School breakfast participation tends to be lower in middle and high schools than in elementary schools, and as a result, fewer teens are benefiting from the improved educational and health outcomes linked to school breakfast. Barriers such as hectic morning schedules, late bus arrivals, and social stigma contribute to this trend.

To help principals increase school breakfast participation among teens, FRAC and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) partnered to release the Secondary School Principals’ Breakfast After the Bell Toolkit."

Source: FRAC, 4/2017, Learn More >

It’s Cool to Eat Breakfast in Wethersfield Schools

Wethersfield High School students recently hosted their first school breakfast event at Charles Wright Elementary School. Carissa, our Communications VISTA, had the pleasure of attending:

Wethersfield HAT members from left to right include Christina Morra-Tiu, Principal Glenn Horter, Monique Gardon, Joanna Morillo, Beatrice Maslowski, and Chef Jamie Davies

I walked into Charles Wright Elementary with one of Foodshare’s Community Network Builders, Beatrice Maslowski, who facilitates the Wethersfield Hunger Action Team. As a teacher guided us down to the cafeteria, Bea explained that the children made clay bowls for an Empty Bowls project. Their creations lined the halls, showcased on window sills and in display cases.

Upon entering the cafeteria, Principal Glenn Horter welcomed us warmly. Chef Jamie Davies from Chartwells and his team were already preparing a delicious feast of fresh fruit, milk, egg sandwiches, cereal, French toast, and hash browns. The walls mimicked the day’s theme of healthy meals, including a bulletin board showcasing a superhero. The children began to file in with their brightly colored backpacks in tow. Mrs. Doris Duggins, Monique Gardon, and the rest of their sociology class began to set up their materials after a walk from Wethersfield High School.

Mrs. Duggins wanted to help food insecure students in the area by having her students lead presentations and activities to encourage school breakfast. Monique took this initiative to heart, coming up with a strategy, discussing her ideas with the Wethersfield Hunger Action Team, and encouraging her classmates to join her.

Principal Horter enthusiastically introduced the guests to the children, and Monique explained the agenda: one grade would play games while the other would eat breakfast, and then they would switch rooms in about 25 minutes. The sociology students led activities intended to get the fifth and sixth graders thinking about healthy choices, the importance of breakfast, and nutrition. While the children ate, they watched a skit written by Daniel Lopez of the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. Giggles filled the room as “Banana Boy” jumped out to inform “Jimmy” not to be afraid to try new foods and not to skip breakfast. To see so many children enjoying themselves and get a nutritious meal was inspiring.

I recently learned that the experience of volunteering is just as important to the individuals donating their time as it is to the cause. I listened to the presenters talk about their favorite parts of the morning while eating their own breakfasts. Watching Mrs. Duggins interact with her students was heartwarming. The class then packed up and headed back to school, and I drove back to Foodshare with a light heart and hope for the continued success of this program.

You can view photos and videos from that wonderful morning. Learn more about Foodshare Hunger Action Teams, and how you can get involved!

No Meals May Mean No Snow Days

"When school districts decide to stay open during inclement weather, many parents assume that it relates to the roads.

But there’s another reason schools are reluctant to grant snow days: Their students may have little to eat at home. According to the Agriculture Department, 20 million students receive free lunch, and 11.7 million receive free breakfast, at school."



Source: The Washington Post, 3/15/17, Learn More>

National School Breakfast Week

This week, March 6-10, marks the celebration of  school breakfast for children across the nation.

National School Breakfast week is a campaign that was launched in 1989 to raise awareness of the availability of the School Breakfast Program to all children.  During this week, schools put their breakfast programs on display through exciting contests and promotions.

This year's theme is Take The School Breakfast Challenge. Its purpose is to encourage students, staff and school officials to increase their participation in school breakfast.

School Breakfast Reaches Record Numbers

"A record number of low-income children are now eating breakfast at school, but the policy most credited with boosting their numbers may be on the chopping block under the Trump Administration.

According to the latest School Breakfast Scorecard, an annual report released Tuesday by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), school breakfast participation among low-income kids grew 3.7 percent in the 2015-2016 school year. More than 12 million low-income kids now eat breakfast at school, up almost 50 percent from 10 years ago.

Advocates chalk up that growth, in large part, to the expansion of the Community Eligibility Provision, an Obama-era program that remains unpopular with many Republicans. Under CEP, schools or school districts where 40 percent of the student body directly qualifies for free meals (via food stamps or other nutrition assistance or welfare programs) may offer those meals free to all students. The school is then reimbursed at a variable rate, according to the percentage of low-income students."

Source: The Washington Post, 2/14/17 Read More >

Connecticut School Breakfast Participation Jumps

Over 100,000 Connecticut students participated in the national School Breakfast Program (SBP) every day during the 2015-16 school year, and 85% of them did so for free or at a reduced price. Connecticut was among the top-ranked states last year for increasing the percentage of its low-income students participating in the SBP.

Nearly 8,000 more children ate breakfast at school in the 2015-16 school year than the year before. Although that was a 10% rise in participation, only 51% of those eligible for free or reduced-price lunches eat breakfast in school, which places the state among the bottom third of states (33rd).

The rise in student participation came despite the state being near the bottom of states (49th) in terms of the percentage of eligible schools participating in the program.

Source: Food Research & Action Center, 2/14/17, School Breakfast in CT

Check out how Foodshare is working to connect kids with meal programs right here in Greater Hartford, and learn how you can get involved!

Metropolitan AME Zion Church Show of Support

This month, the Metropolitan AME Zion Church in Hartford, held their Christmas Concert to benefit Foodshare. Our President and CEO, James Arena-DeRosa had the opportunity to speak with attendees about our work, sharing how fellow church members could stay involved in fighting hunger here at home.

Thanks to to their overwhelming generosity, we will be able to provide over 3,000 meals for our hungry neighbors this winter and get people connected with longer-term support through programs like SNAP, school breakfast and lunch programs.

Thank you Metropolitan AME Zion for supporting Foodshare this holiday season!

No to Expansion of School Meals

"A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that would have made changes to the $22 billion federal program that distributes free and reduced-priced meals in schools is officially dead, according to bill sponsor Pat Roberts, Republican U.S. senator from Kansas.

The school lunch, breakfast, and summer meal programs will continue to operate under the policies set in 2010 under the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act."

Source: KBIA, 12/8/16, Read Full Article >

New Britain City and Schools Face Hunger

Despite New Britain schools entering their second year providing free breakfasts and lunches to all students, many families with young children are still food poor and must often make difficult choices on what types of food to eat.

Twenty-three percent of city residents, 16,441 people, live below the poverty level. More than 300 students are identified as homeless. In addition, 65% of the district’s 10,000 students are on SNAP (food stamps).

To address these poverty and hunger issues, the city, schools and nonprofits have teamed up to provide food resources, whereby any student from any city school can walk in and get a meal; and offering breakfast and lunch at many sites in the summer when school is out. Beginning next month, a newly designed $100,000 food truck will deliver free food to areas in the city deemed to have the most residents in need. 

Source: New Britain Herald, 10/28/16, Hunger in New Britain

Senate Places A Hold On Revised Child Nutrition Bill

One provision has hung up a Senate vote to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act. The provision aims to strengthen the process school districts must use to ensure that only poor and near-poor children get their meals free or at very low cost. The districts must then verify family incomes of the 3,000 applications they’ve approved, or 3% if that’s less.

Source: Poverty & Policy, 10/11/16 Child Nutrition Bill

Success with Universal Free Meals in Bristol

We recently received some great news from Greg Boulanger, Director of Food Services in Bristol and Hunger Action Team (HAT) member: 

"Since the start of the 2016-17 school year, two Bristol elementary schools provide meals under the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). We call it 'Universal Free Meals.' As expected we have seen a large increase in participation with breakfast and modest increase with lunch."

According to initial reports:

• West Bristol increased breakfast by 185% and lunch by 20%
• E.P. Hubbell increased breakfast by 100% and lunch by 15%

In early spring, Greg asked Bristol HAT members to help him encourage parents of school age children to find out if they were eligible for School Meals or SNAP. He had determined that 3 of his schools were very close to meeting CEP eligibility, but he needed about 200 more families to tip the school eligibility scale. The SNAP Outreach programs at both End Hunger CT! and Foodshare played a role in assisting many parents to access SNAP, which in turn made them automatically eligible for free school meals. The result of these efforts, along with others, is that two of the three schools are now under CEP.

Congratulations to Greg and many thanks to Laura, her volunteers and our colleague/HAT member Shannon Yearwood at EHC!

Learn more about Community Eligibility Provision >

Shine with School Breakfast!

As you may already know, September is Hunger Action Month and Foodshare is focusing on School Breakfast to ensure all of our kids start the day with a healthy meal. As luck would have it, the Wethersfield Food and Nutrition Services Team put together this awesome list of "Top Reasons Why Your Child Should Eat Breakfast at School" and we thought it was way too good not to share!

Getting the word out

Recently, Foodshare's President & CEO, James Arena-DeRosa, attended an event at Seabury in Bloomfield sponsored by the UCONN ALP (Adult Learning Program). James spoke to a group comprised of about 100 seniors on his own personal background and his decision to work in the area of social justice. He also spoke passionately about the need for school breakfast and the impact on our children.

Following his remarks, James entertained questions from the audience, and many left the session feeling inspired and with a greater knowledge of the causes and effects of hunger.

Safety net outcomes in Connecticut

Federal and state safety net programs lift around 420,000 Connecticut residents out of poverty and reduce the state’s poverty rate from 22.7% (before counting government benefits and taxes) to 10.9%. Many of those who benefit are children: the safety net lifts about 84,000 children above the poverty line, reducing their poverty rate from 20.7% to 10.3%. Social Security is the strongest link in the net lifting nearly 280,000, mostly elderly, people above poverty and reducing the elderly poverty rate from nearly 50% to just under 13%. SNAP helps an estimated 70,000 rise above poverty by assisting about 440,000 people a month, including 160,000 children.

Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 8/2/16, Safety Net in Connecticut

Community Eligibility Cutbacks?

A discussion draft of the child nutrition reauthorization bill that the House Education and Workforce Committee may soon consider includes a provision that would severely restrict schools’ eligibility for community eligibility, an option that allows high-poverty schools to provide school meals at no charge to all students.

Currently a school qualifies for community eligibility if 40% of its students are automatically qualified for free school meals based on their participation in another anti-poverty program. The proposal would raise that threshold to 60%. If the proposal becomes law, 7,022 schools now using community eligibility to serve nearly 3.4 million students would have two years to reinstate paper eligibility applications and return to monitoring eligibility in the lunch line. Another 11,647 schools that qualify for community eligibility, but have not yet adopted it, would lose eligibility.

Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 4/18/16, Community Eligibility

School Breakfast is Reaching more Kids

School breakfast is getting healthier while reaching more children, according to a new analysis by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). An average of 11.2 million low-income children ate a healthy morning meal each day at school during the 2013-2014 school year, an increase of 320,000 children from the previous school year. Participation growth was driven by several factors. The economy played a role as families grappling with the slow recovery from the recession found themselves eligible for free and reduced-price meals. Improved policy changes, like direct certification and Community Eligibility, meant that schools were better able to identify and certify income-eligible children for school meals. View the full report...

More Kids Eating Breakfast at School

More low-income kids are eating school breakfast in communities across the U.S., according to new analyses by the Food Research and Action Center that look at school breakfast participation at the district, state, and national levels.

During the 2013-2014 school year, an average of 11.2 million low-income children ate a healthy morning meal each day at school, an increase of 320,000 children from the previous school year. Breakfast participation in Connecticut grew 4.5%, but at 47.4% of those kids who get free- or reduced-price lunch, participation is still below the national average. And, while a growing number of Connecticut schools are participating in the federal breakfast program, the state continues to have the lowest school participation rate in the nation (74.7%).

Thankfully we have Hunger Action Teams hard at work throughout the region working on this very problem! Look at this amazing work happening in West Hartford...

Breakfast Around the World

Part of a year-long project funded by Foodshare to ensure language is not a barrier to School Breakfast in West Hartford:

Connecticut Schools Near the Top of the Nation for Fewest Students in Poverty

A new study by the National Center for Education Statistics finds that for the first time in at least 50 years more than half of the country’s public school students qualify as low income students. For almost half the states, the majority of students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Connecticut is one of only 10 states have low-income student populations below 40 percent. But that’s hardly good news: in Connecticut, more than one out of every three students in our public schools (36 percent) and qualifies for free or reduced lunches and other federal school meal programs. The problem is made worse by the fact that so few schools participate in some of those federal meal programs. Read more.