Webinar regarding Child and Adult Care Food Program next week

New Proposed Healthier CACFP Meal Standards: What You Need to Know
Thursday, January 29, 2015
1:30 pm eastern
Register here for the webinar.

USDA's proposed new healthier meal pattern for the Child and Adult Care Food Program and related programs has been released. Join the Food Research and Action Center and USDA for a webinar on the proposed rule.

Learn what you need to know about USDA's recently proposed rule, "Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010," including the revised meal patterns and nutrition standards for:

• The Child and Adult Care Food Program in Head Start, child care centers, family child care homes, afterschool programs, emergency shelters and adult day care; and
• School meal programs in school-based PreK and afterschool programs.
  

Speakers:

• Kevin Concannon, Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, USDA
• Jim Weill and Geri Henchy, Food Research and Action Center
• Laura Carroll, Child Nutrition Division, USDA
  

A certificate of attendance will be issued.

THE HEAD START DIET

When I was in high school in Gouverneur, I volunteered with the Head Start program during summer vacation.  I loved working with the young children and new it made a difference.  So I was glad to see that this new research says it makes a difference not only with their education, but also with their  diets and health!

Gloria

Head Start programs have been shown to help poor children do better in school, but they may also help them fight obesity, a new study suggests. During a year of Head Start preschool, obese and overweight children were much more likely to slim down than comparison groups of kids. The study involved almost 44,000 children, including about 19,000 Head Start kids who were compared with children from Medicaid families and with those from wealthier, privately insured families. About 16% of kids entering Head Start were obese, versus 12% of Medicaid kids and 7% of the others. After a year, almost 11% of initially obese Head Start kids became normal weight, compared with none of the Medicaid kids and less than 2% of the others. The improvements lasted through the end of the study, or when the kids entered kindergarten. Similar trends were seen in kids who started out overweight but not obese.

Source:  Huffington Post, 1/12/15, Head Start

Growing Community Award presented to the Martin family

GardenShare presented the 2014 Growing Community Award to the Daniel and Mendy Martin family on Saturday, January 17. Daniel and Mendy own Martin's Needham Road Market on US Highway 11B outside of Potsdam.

GardenShare Executive Director Gloria McAdam (left) and President of the
Board of Directors, Carol Pynchon (right) present the award to the Martin's.

“They have been an influential part of the local food movement since 1998 when they started a U-pick strawberry operation at Southville Corners,” GardenShare Board of Directors President Carol Pynchon said.

A crowd fills the TAUNY center for
the award ceremony

The farm stand has grown exponentially since then; with other small farmers they produced and sold between 60 and 70 tons of food in 2012.  The Needham Road Market offers high quality vegetables at the stand and through an innovative on-line market. They are one of the first farm stands to accept payment through SNAP benefits and they have a small-scale wholesale operation that provides produce to local retail outlets.

“The Martin family consistently supports organizations that work toward food security in the North Country by donating produce to community meals, food pantries, and neighborhood centers, and they often welcome gleaners in their fields,” Pynchon said.

The GardenShare board and staff  thank  the local farms and retail organizations who made this event possible: Dan and Meghan Kent of Kent Family Growers, Dave and Kathy Rice from Sweet Core Farm, and Mike Corse of Deep Root Farm donated the vegetables and dried beans for the chili;ature's Storehouse  contributed the cornbread ingredients; and the Potsdam food Co-op provided the tomatoes, spices and dairy products.  Cindy Murdie from  Cindy’s  Cake Shop donated the beautiful cake.  We are so fortunate to live in a community that supports and honors  our work.

Thank you to the Methodist Church for allowing us to use their certified kitchen to produce the chili and corn bread.  Thank you to Jill Breit and the TAUNY Center staff for the use of their warm and welcoming space.  It was the ideal venue for this celebration of community spirit and connections.

The Martin Family join the following past recipients of this award:

• Jenny and Brian Walker - 2013
• Carlton Doane, Free Will Meals - 2012
• Katherine Lang - 2011
• U Share, Unitarian Universalist Church - 2010
• Julie Holbrook, Keene Central School - 2009
• Cindy Harnas, South Jefferson Central School - 2009
• North Country Public Radio - 2008
• Food Bank of Central New York - 2007
• Betsey Hodge - 2006
• North Country Grown Cooperative - 2006
• Seedcorn - 2005
• Canton Farmers Market - 2004
• PACES - 2003

Learn more about the Martin's and the award here

SHIFTS IN SCHOOL LUNCH PARTICIPATION

The number of children participating in the National School Lunch Program is changing. A new analysis by the Food Research and Action Center shows that lower family incomes and improvements to the eligibility process for school meals have led to a continuous increase in participation among low-income children; and rules on pricing of meals for other children have contributed to a multi-year decline in participation for those with higher family incomes. As the recession reduced many families’ incomes, the number of free and reduced-priced participants increased, and the number of paid participants dropped. As a result of eligibility process improvements, like more efficient and accurate cross-certification with other means-tested programs such as SNAP, more families were determined eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. And, the Community Eligibility Provision, allowed high-poverty schools to reduce paperwork and offer free breakfast and lunch to all children. Higher prices for school meals pushed in the other direction. The Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 required most school districts to increase “paid lunch” charges to students not eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

Source: Food Research and Action Center, 1/14/15, School Lunch Shifts

Join us for a movie night in three weeks!

Malone food pantry update

It was good to hear the the food pantry in Malone and it's landlord are working toward a resolution of the rent issue that had threatened to close the pantry.  Story on NCPR

AMERICAN “HUNGER GAMES”

When I watched the first "Hunger Games" movie, it was with an overwhelming sadness.  For all I could think was, "this is exactly where America is headed!"  So it was interesting to see this analysis in US News and World Report recently.

Gloria

To date, the “Hunger Games” movies have grossed over $400 million in the US alone. Scene after scene of the fictional country the movie is set in reveals a poverty-ravaged nation filled with destitute children and families. That country, Panem, is based on a future version of America. Although "Hunger Games" is a heavily dramatized fiction, the film underscores several things that are also true of the state of poverty in America:

·  Working parents don’t make enough to feed their kids. 62% ff families with children receiving SNAP benefits were employed, but only 18% of all recipients had incomes above the poverty line.

·  Political rhetoric in both Panem and the US blames the poor. Panem’s dictator, President Coriolanus Snow, emphasizes that the poor districts have brought all of the war and destruction upon themselves. In America, unsubstantiated claims still remain that the values and behaviors of poor people are responsible for their situation.  But in reality poor people do not spend their welfare money on drugs and alcohol, and SNAP fraud, or exchanging food stamps for money, is just 1%.

·  Children have no voice, yet suffer the most. In the "Hunger Games", children are chosen randomly from each district to fight to the death. As in Panem, US children our poorest citizens. While the adult poverty rate is 13%, the child poverty rate is 22%. Yet policies aimed at children, such as food stamps and Medicaid, often come under fire because of the idea that they are handouts to parents that disincentivize work.

Source: US News & World Report, 12/3/14, Hunger Games