Breakfast Brainstorm Newsletter- September/October 2010
Articles in this issue include:
Share your SFSP Materials and Stories for our Success Wall
Attention summer sponsors! The CNOP team is collecting materials to share on the “Success Wall” at our next annual SFSP kickoff. Please submit stories, successful tips, good ideas, menus or recipes, and fun summer site photos or artwork. Remember that your great ideas may be beneficial to other sponsors and sites. We look forward to seeing what you have to showcase! Please email materials to: dmercier@projectbread.org or send hardcopies to CNOP, 145 Border St. East Boston, MA 02128.
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The Importance of School Meal Applications
As fall is upon us, it’s time to collect school meal applications (SMAs). SMAs determine which children qualify for free, reduced price, or paid school meals. The information captured by SMAs is used for many purposes, including determining eligibility for the Summer Food Service Program and Title I funding. When children don’t return their school meal applications, essential information is lost. Maximize the return of school meal applications with CNOP’s free outreach materials in multiple languages. You can download them at www.meals4kids.org or call us at 617-723-5000 to place an order.
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Does Universal Breakfast Have You Stumped? Let CNOP help!
Have you decided to start a Universal Breakfast (UB) program but have no idea where to begin? Starting a UB program is a great way to ensure that every student in your school has the opportunity to receive a free, nutritious breakfast at the start of each day. UB programs are often financially beneficial, but starting them can be a little overwhelming. Let CNOP help guide you through ten simple steps to consider with our UB planning document.
This document addresses everything from planning meetings to implementation and promotion of the program. If you would like more ideas or help with your UB program, please call the CNOP team at (617)723-5000.
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School Breakfast Video Contest
This year, CNOP is launching a school breakfast video contest for high school students. Teenagers throughout Massachusetts will be invited to submit a creative video that highlights the benefits of school breakfast. The video can be a rap, skit, PSA, or anything else! The goal of the contest is to generate excitement about the School Breakfast Program among high school students statewide.
CNOP is working with School Tube to create a safe environment for students to submit their videos. Promotion of the contest will begin in January and the contest will be launched during National School Breakfast Week in March. Wonderful prizes will be awarded, so start getting students excited about it now! If you’d like to promote the video contest at your school(s), contact CNOP and we will send you a packet of promotional materials. Be sure to look out for more details about the contest in future brainstorm and email blasts!
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New School Breakfast Incentives
This fall, the CNOP team has some brand new school breakfast incentives to share! Since we all know that school breakfast is “the fuel for school,” these fun incentives are a great way to get kids learning while promoting school breakfast.
Puzzle Rulers – A ruler complete with a school breakfast sliding picture puzzle!
Neon-colored Pencils – Bright new pencils to start the day off with some color.
Grape Erasers – Scented grape shaped erasers.
School Breakfast Pencil Pouch – A pouch designed to store all of the new goodies.
Incentives will be available to schools that are making a breakfast model change as a way to promote the new breakfast arrangement. If you are interested in making a breakfast model change and receiving some of our new incentives, contact CNOP at 617-723-5000 today!
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Embrace Social Media with CNOP!
Jump on board with social media! Since July 2009, the Child Nutrition Outreach Program has been spreading the word about the School Breakfast Program and the Summer Food Service Program through social media. Through Twitter and Facebook, CNOP provides useful information about these under-utilized federal nutrition programs to our broad range of social media contacts.
Since CNOP created our Twitter page last year, we have accrued over 900 followers from all over the world. Every day we post articles about pertinent issues, such as information about school meal and summer food legislation and nutritional standard updates. Our Facebook page has over 80 fans, and we regularly post articles, videos, and discussions about childhood nutrition.
If you are interested in becoming a follower of our Twitter page, please visit this link.
If you would like to become a fan of our Facebook page,please visit this link.
We would also love to spread the word about what you are doing, menus you have created, and events you are having. If you have a Twitter or Facebook page, please send us a link to: cnop@projectbread.org!
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Harvest Week is Almost Upon Us!
Massachusetts Student Harvest Week is a great way to discuss the origins of fresh fruit and vegetables and to show kids why having fresh produce in school meals is important. Make Student Harvest Week exciting! Hold a student recipe contest, organize a field trip to a local farm, invite a farmer to your school to discuss local farming, or highlight seasonal fruits and veggies at the school cafeteria.
This year Cambridge, Massachusetts is actively participating in Student Harvest Week. Dawn Olcott, school nutritionist at the Cambridge Public Health Department and Vincent Connelly, a chef working with the Cambridge public schools, are working in conjunction with Jack Mingle, Cambridge school food service director, to create interesting new recipes. Click on the following links to see their recipes for roasted local squash and tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad.
The new recipes will be introduced during Student Harvest Week, and City Sprouts (a local non-profit organization dedicated to promoting school gardens) will work with the kids throughout the week to help pick vegetables for the tomato, basil, mozzarella salad!
If you have any questions about how to participate in Student Harvest Week, contact Kelly Erwin at Massachusetts Farm to School program: mafarmtoschool@gmail.com or visit Massachusetts Farm to School Program’s website for details: http://www.mass.gov/agr/markets/Farm_to_school/
Happy Harvesting!
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Hellos and Goodbyes at CNOP
After two years as CNOP’s administrative associate, Patty Pforte has left to pursue her dream of working in the arena of museum studies/anthropology. She will begin working towards a Master of Arts degree in the Museum Studies Program at New York University this fall. Patty’s dedication to work and wonderful personality have made her a key member of the CNOP team. She will be greatly missed by both coworkers and community members!
We are excited to welcome Dennis Mercier as the CNOP team’s newest member. Dennis started in August as CNOP’s administrative associate. He has a Master in Arts degree in Integrated Marketing Communication from Emerson College and has most recently worked as a campaign associate for Project Bread. CNOP is very excited that Dennis has joined our team!
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