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Bring Healthy Food to Our Nation’s Schools

A healthy environment is an essential part of our children’s education, and this includes safe and nutritious food. Children get up to 50% of their daily food intake at school, and unfortunately it’s not always the best kind. Earth Day Network seeks to remove the barriers to serving high-quality school food, including more fresh fruits and vegetables.

You can help us provide our children with healthy, nutritious school lunches by sending a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

You can also write a letter to the Department of Agriculture demanding that they provide schools with the funds they need to guarantee quality food for students.

Step 1 - Select a Recipient

GUIDANCE for STEP 2, constructing the letter: We have provided a sample Letter to the Editor which you can edit directly, OR delete the proposed text and write a fully custom letter.

Step 2 - Write your message

Subject:

Your Letter:

Many of our nation's children and their parents count on school meals to be a healthy addition to children's diets. Over 30 million kids a year eat school lunch, and up to half of a child’s food intake can be consumed at school.  Low-income children are especially reliant on school lunch and breakfast for their daily sustenance.

Our schools should have adequate funding to provide students with healthy meals.  Federal reimbursement rates are not high enough to provide students with the fresh, healthy food that they need to keep up with increasing academic demands.  When budgets are strained, cafeterias must cut costs, serving hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and canned vegetables.  Children develop tastes and learn eating habits at school that will stay with them for life.  Consequently, it is crucial that children receive nutrition education that is reinforced by healthy, balanced lunches.

As citizens, we have a duty to do everything in our hand to ensure that our children receive the food they need in school, including fresh fruits and vegetables every day. The USDA is currently asking for comments on how to improve the school lunch and breakfast program.  We must demand that the USDA increases the federal reimbursement rates to cover for proper school meals. The well being and future of our children is at stake.

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