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News Fri Dec 03 2010
Millions of Children to Get Better Access to Nutritious Food
Ah, school lunch. I have fond memories of buttery bread sticks, cheesy pizza and lots of candy during my high school years. Looking back, I'm slightly appalled by the food I consumed and am grateful that my parents made sure I ate healthy food on a pretty regular basis.
For a lot of kids, this isn't the case. In Cook County, a recent survey shows that just 7.8 percent of children meet the recommended daily allowance for both fruit and vegetables. Almost more shocking - 45 percent of children surveyed missed a main meal in the previous 24 hours.
Thankfully, Congress passed the Child Nutrition Reauthorization yesterday. The bill will reauthorize child nutrition programs for five years and includes an additional $4.5 billion in funding for school meal programs over 10 years. For Chicago, the bill will help to improve the quality of school meals while helping hundreds of thousands of children receive nutritious food after school, during evenings, weekends and over the summer. The new legislation will improve the Greater Chicago Food Depository's nearly 100 meal programs for children. The Food Depository serves more than 250,000 children in Cook County each year.
"Few children are aware of summer programs, and many locations must limit the number of children who participate due to bureaucracy and logistics," said Kate Maehr, executive director and CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. "The child nutrition bill will raise program awareness, expand eligibility and reduce the administrative burden that keeps sites from serving all youths in their neighborhoods."
Well done, Congress.