Nutrition

Former Oregon Duck quarterback and current San Diego Charger backup quarterback Kellen Clemens was at Ontario High School to help motivate high school students on the NFL’s Fuel Up to Play 60 program. Clemens signed autographs, posters, and t-shirts to help promote healthy eating and gave an inspiring message that it doesn’t matter if you come from a small town you can still make an impact on your body.

Check out the KOIN 6 TV news story (yes, there’s Pam Suyematsu, Ontario School District Food Services Manager and former president of OSNA, to the right of Kellen in the opening shot!).

Three in five students — more than 30 million children — rely on school meals for one to two meals a day. In an effort to fuel healthy kids, Fuel Up to Play 60, USDA, in collaboration with the NFL and GENYOUth, have made $35 million in grants to schools nationwide to purchase kitchen equipment and infrastructure that will enable them to serve nutritious meals that meet dietary guidelines — and that kids want to eat.

Thanks to Crista Hawkins and the Oregon Dairy and Nutrition Council team for sharing this link with OSNA members!

“Let’s Do Breakfast Oregon” is a new awareness campaign to encourage more schools to serve breakfast in the first few minutes of first period. Annie Kirschner, program director with Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, says legislation (HB 2846) in Salem would allow that without compromising teachers’ instructional time. She predicts the bill will pass.

Other partners in the campaign are the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Dairy Council, which is offering grants to help schools that might need extra equipment for expanding breakfast programs. Read more…