Columbus City Schools Named School Breakfast Program of the Year
At their 21st Annual Menu of Hope Luncheon on February 29, Children’s Hunger Alliance recognized Columbus City Schools as the 2015 School Breakfast Program of the Year.
These yearly awards recognize just a few of the outstanding programs that Children’s Hunger Alliance works with to fight childhood hunger in Ohio by providing children access to healthy food, nutrition education and physical activity.
During the 2014-2015 school year, Columbus City Schools had one of the highest school breakfast participation rates among public school districts in the state of Ohio. Columbus City Schools served about 4.3 million breakfast meals to students free of charge regardless of income, a 10% increase from the prior school year.
In the first year of the Ohio School Breakfast Challenge – a statewide initiative promoting increased school breakfast participation co-sponsored by Children’s Hunger Alliance, American Dairy Association Mideast, Action for Healthy Kids, Ohio School Nutrition Association, and the Ohio Department of Education – 65 of the 170 schools recognized for meeting the challenge award levels were Columbus City Schools.
Five schools received the highest rating, meaning that 80% or higher of that school’s students eat breakfast each day. The 2015-2016 school year also marks the second year of Columbus City Schools’ historic move to offer school lunch as well as school breakfast to every student at no charge.
“Not only does Columbus City School excel with student participation,” said Andrea Eckhardt, Director of School and Summer Nutrition for Children’s Hunger Alliance, “but they also offer breakfast meals that exceed the federal nutrition standards by offering more fresh fruit items and fewer sugary entrees. We applaud Columbus City Schools for helping ensure more students start their day with a nutritious meal and setting the conditions right for all students to learn.”
Other award recipients were:
Serving Our Neighbors Ministries, Hilliard – Summer Nutrition Program of the Year
Rainbow Terrace Learning Center, Cleveland – Afterschool Program of the Year
Veronica Aaron Bliss, Fremont – Childcare Provider of the Year
Discover Employees, New Albany – Volunteer Corporate Group of the Year
Terri Scholl – Children’s Hunger Alliance Staff Member of the Year