Dear Congress. Please Pass the Nutrition Bill Don't Let Our Children Go Hungry

Dear Congress.

As a registered dietitian and an educator, I know hunger and inadequate nutrition impacts the ability to learn. Hungry children lack concentration, are often irritable and more likely to become ill. In contrast, students who come to class well-nourished have fewer behavioral and attendance problems, and have higher test scores.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act offers a real chance to improve nutrition for all children. By improving opportunities for healthy meals in and out of school, the bill would take an important step forward in addressing both child hunger and obesity.

The bill would help reduce hunger and increase children's access to healthy meals, including by better connecting eligible children with free school meals. It would also authorize grants to retain summer food program sponsors, improve and expand breakfast programs, and encourage states to develop comprehensive strategies to end child hunger.

Thank you for your consideration of my views on these important issues.

Sincerely,
Sandra Frank, Ed.D., RD, LDN

World Food Day October 16, 2010

"United Against Hunger"

World Food Day was established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in November 1979. FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on October 16th, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945. 

WORLD FOOD DAY 2010

If we are to make a difference, we must be united against hunger. The “1 billion hungry project” reaches out to people through online social media to invite them to sign the anti-hunger petition at http://www.1billionhungry.org/.

The objectives of World Food Day are to:

*Encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental efforts to this end;

*Encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries;

*Encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions;

*Heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world;

*Promote the transfer of technologies to the developing world; and

*Strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development.