Celebrate National School Breakfast Week
February 25, 2010 – Sponsored by the School Nutrition Association (SNA), National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) was launched in 1989 to raise awareness of the availability of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) to all children. This year’s theme is “School Breakfast Ready Set Go!” - a campaign designed to introduce students to the importance of school breakfast and demonstrate how eating a school breakfast prepares you for a busy day at school.
According to SNA, numerous studies have shown that breakfast can improve a student’s memory, test scores, school attendance and cut down on visits to the school nurse. Research has also shown that children who eat breakfast every day have a higher intake of vitamins and minerals and maintain a healthier weight than those who skip breakfast.
The National School Breakfast Program feeds more than 10.6 million students every day. The SNA states that the program is critical to maintaining the health and wellbeing of children who are eligible for free or reduced price meals and to providing an alternative for children who don’t want to eat breakfast at home. And having breakfast available at school is a huge relief for many parents with hectic schedules.
The SNA website has a number of resources that can help schools celebrate NSBW, including toolkits, logos, menu and recipe ideas and merchandise available for purchase. It also offers activity sheets, free backpack brochures, and free stickers for kids, and provides marketing and PR materials such as press releases, proclamations, and presentations.
In addition, SNA is promoting two contests related to the event: a sweepstakes and an art contest. For the sweepstakes, schools have to fill out an online form describing what is being done for NSBW and enter for a chance to win stickers for the school. SNA will be randomly picking 15 winners at the end of each month, between January and March 2010. The deadline for the entries is March 31, 2010. The art contest entails answering the question “What does School Breakfast get you ready for?” and illustrating the answer on a contest entry form. Three national winners will receive a prize pack.
For further details about the contests and their requirements and/or NSBW, click here.