From October 14-20, 2018, schools will be celebrating National School Lunch Week. The week salutes the work of school nutrition professionals to improve the health, well-being, and academic success of more than 30 million students each day in the United States. The theme this year is “School Lunch: Lots 2 Love”. According to the US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, the theme was designed to help students and school nutrition professionals connect and share what they love most about school lunch.
The goals of the “Lots 2 Love Campaign” are to:
• Promote healthy menus and increase school lunch participation.
• Raise awareness with parents, administrators, and media about the importance of school meals and the role played by school nutrition professionals.
Did you know that National School Lunch Week (NSLW) was created in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy? It was to recognize the importance of a healthy school lunch in a child’s life. The National School Lunch Program was signed into law in 1946 and is the largest of the federal child nutrition programs. More than 30 million students are served healthy lunches every school day, or about 5 billion meals annually! Nutritionally, every school lunch features servings of fruits and vegetables, whole-grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy.
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) suggests schools host a Take Your Parent to Lunch Day on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, and invite parents to eat lunch with their children. SNA suggests highlighting what makes your school cafeteria such a special place for students. Schools can use this theme to spotlight different aspects of their school nutrition program.
- Share all the reasons to love the menus, the dining room and the people who prepare and serve the meals.
- Engage students to share what they love most about their cafeteria experience.
- Promote the immediate and long-term health benefits of nutritious food choices.
- Put school staff members in the spotlight so students get to know even better how staff add a pinch of love to everything they do.
Here are just a few suggestions for how to “share the love” for National School Lunch Week:
- Plan an art or essay contest inviting students to describe a favorite school menu item or a favorite cafeteria employee.
- Invite guest servers—a principal, local chef, musician or athlete—to work the lunch line.
- Ask adults—parents, faculty, administrators, staff—to share their favorite school lunches when they were kids, as well as their favorite items that you serve today.
- Make an NSLW word cloud. Give kids pre-printed slips of paper with different words about school lunch and ask them to choose or write their favorites around the NSLW Lots2Love theme.
- Look back on some of your most popular cafeteria promotions. Maybe when everyone on staff dressed as fairy-tale characters or when you served breakfast for lunch and kids came to school in their pajamas. Repeat this promotion one day during NSLW and market it as something that was so loved in the past, you’re doing it again
Or try these easy tips to give your menu a boost:
- Create new menu items or rename a current favorite to reflect the theme (e.g. Chef Mary’s Pasta Love Bake, Two-Hearts-Plus-One Bean Soup, Heart Beets).
- Partner with a local farmer or producer to create a new NSLW-themed dish.
- Add fun facts about school lunches and healthy eating to your NSLW menu.
And if you are thinking about ways to tailor your NSLW message to parents.
- Offer samples, conduct tours of the kitchen and cafeteria, and give parents a free lunch coupon and an invitation to join you at their convenience.
- Provide parents with a family-sized recipe of a favorite menu item. Remind parents about the benefits of school lunch and that studies show school lunches are more likely to include fruit, vegetables, and dairy than lunches brought from home.
- Encourage students and parents to regularly review the lunch week menus together to start a dialogue about healthy eating.
For more ideas from the School Nutrition Association, check out this toolkit. : https://schoolnutrition.org/uploadedFiles/2_Meetings_and_Events/SNF/Pages/NSLW-2018-toolkit.PDF
Contact the New England Dairy and Food Council for free resources for National School Lunch Week. https://www.newenglanddairycouncil.org/national-school-lunch-week-2018/
USDA Food and Nutrition Service offers free resources for fun ways to promote nutrition and physical activity at elementary and middle schools. An idea booklet can help you with ideas for special events, handouts, and templates to support events. https://www.fns.usda.gov/team-nutrition-popular-events-idea-booklet
