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New Study Confirms Link Between School Breakfast Program and Achievement for Poor ChildrenIt has long been held that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That wisdom is especially true for children, whose young minds and bodies need fuel for growth. Sadly, for at least ten million American schoolchildren, access to a nutritious breakfast is not guaranteed. A new study conducted by the Center for Hunger and Poverty and commissioned by the Sodexo Foundation calls for more school districts to participate in the federally funded School Breakfast Program (SBP) as a way to help solve the problem. The research, conducted by a team of Harvard researchers, led by Dr. J. Larry Brown of the Harvard School Of Public Health, reviewed more than 100 published research articles, whose findings confirm that serving children breakfast at school significantly improves their cognitive or mental abilities, enabling them to be more alert, pay better attention, and to do better in terms of reading, math and other standardized test scores. Children getting breakfast at school also are sick less often, have fewer problems associated with hunger, such as dizziness, lethargy, stomach- and earaches, and do significantly better than their peers who do not get a school breakfast in terms of cooperation, discipline and inter-personal behaviors. “While educators, parents, and policymakers generally agree that children need breakfast in order to learn, function and grow, the nation still has a ways to go to ensure that all needy and at-risk children receive a daily school breakfast,” said Dr. J. Larry Brown, author of the new report and visiting scholar, Harvard School of Public Health and founding director, Center on Hunger and Poverty. “While nearly 100,000 individual schools across the country offer a school lunch, more than 15,000 of them still do not make breakfast available to children who are in need. In some states, only 50 to 60 percent of the schools serving students lunch also provide them with a breakfast to start the day,” he added. The study concludes that one of the more cost-efficient things the nation can do to reduce hunger among children and to better their health and educational success is to fully utilize the federally-funded School Breakfast Program. Sodexo Foundation President Stephen J. Brady said that failure to make full use of the program “has substantial costs which greatly reduce the return on educational investment in communities and states across the nation. Longer-term costs also are borne by young children who arrive at school unable to fully participate in the educational process due to lack of adequate nutrition.” Brady concluded, “Full utilization of the School Breakfast Program represents a key way to protect these children and to get a better return on educational investments as well. The existing scholarly literature indicates that doing so would be a win for children and a win for the nation.” Access full report. Nation in Distress: Notes from the Field
In big cities and rural counties, island communities and college towns, organizations that help the hungry, homeless, and needy are being stretched to the limit by increased demand.
We checked in with Sodexo employees on the front lines nationwide to learn more about the crisis. Honolulu, Hawaii Plymouth, New Hampshire Cleveland, Tennessee Ft. Worth, Texas Search, Shop, GiveWith just over a month to go before the holidays, you’re likely panicking about that long list of gifts to buy. You may also be wondering how to contribute to your favorite hunger relief organizations while keeping an eye on your bank account. We have a suggestion. In addition to making your regular end-of-year charitable contributions, you can also donate to causes you care about every time you shop, and even search, online. Search More than 67,000 nonprofits and schools participate in GoodSearch—including the Sodexo Foundation. And since it’s powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results.
Shop We’ve recently discovered another online marketplace that lets you shop and support a favorite organization. GoodShop.com, a “sister” site to GoodSearch, is structured much like iGive. You can shop more than 700 online stores, each of which decides what percentage of your purchase they’ll donate to your chosen charity. The same 67,000 non-profits that benefit from Good Search are also GoodShop participants. Sodexo Foundation is registered with iGive and GoodShop, so check them both out, select the one that tickles your fancy, and put your holiday shopping to good use! Taking Hunger Personally: A Week on the “Food Stamp Diet"When Sodexo staffer Shondra Jenkins and her husband Greg go out for a birthday celebration or other special occasion, the bill can easily top $50. During the week of September 20, Shondra and Greg had to stretch that $50 for 42 meals as the couple participated in the Food Stamp Challenge. Launched by the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger in 2006 and taken up since by members of Congress, mayors, governors, and ordinary citizens, the Challenge caps weekly food spending at $25—the average per person Food Stamp allotment. Shondra said that while she was keenly aware of the problem of hunger in the U.S. and the limitations of current Food Stamp benefits, she took the Challenge to make the issues more personal. “Nothing is more powerful in raising personal awareness and understanding than to experience for yourself (if only for one week) what others experience every day.” Following are excerpts from Shondra’s journal (with a few “guest appearances” by Greg) written during their week living on a Food Stamp budget. Before the Challenge Shondra Day 1 Day 3 Day 4 Day 7 Shondra’s Thoughts at the End of the Challenge
Food Stamp Challenge Resources
Fasting and Fighting Hunger in AmericaOn Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, Jews the world over atone for their sins and renew their covenant with God. To help them focus on repentance, they abstain from the pleasure of food for 25 hours. Fasting also reminds American Jews that in this land of abundance, 35 million Americans are at risk for hunger not just one day, but every day. To deepen the meaning of the Yom Kippur fast, hundreds of American synagogues conduct food drives, asking congregants to donate the equivalent of the food they did not eat during their fast. Since launching its High Holiday Food Drive eight years ago, Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Mass. has collected more than 10,000 pounds of non-perishable food for area food banks. This year, the temple’s youth group rented a larger truck and put out the word for an even larger show of support from Isaiah members. “The local food banks told us the need was so much greater this year that we had to make a big push for more food donations,” said Linda Kinstler, the Isaiah youth group’s social action vice president and coordinator of the food drive. “The congregation really stepped up to the plate and filled our truck to the brim.” Like more than 900 synagogues nationwide, Temple Isaiah partners with MAZON, A Jewish Response to Hunger to organize its food drive. MAZON is a national, nonprofit agency that allocates donations from the Jewish community to prevent and alleviate hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds. MAZON’s High Holy Days campaign, the “Corners of Our Fields,” seeks to collect food for local charities and raise money for MAZON’s work in the fight against hunger. MAZON President H. Eric Schockman, Ph.D. said he anticipates donations to the Corners of Our Field campaign to be “about on par with last year,” when MAZON was able to make $2 million in grants for its fall cycle. “Even with the economy in such a terrible state, the Jewish community dug deep and heard the clarion call to action,” said Schockman. “The bible mandates that we ‘leave the corners of our field for the poor and the stranger,’ and our supporters have fulfilled that mandate in this time of increasing need.” Resources Article ArchivesSTOP Hunger eZine Issues Vol. 3 Issue 6: STOP Hunger eZine - November 2008
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November 2008 – Volume 3/Issue 6
In this issue: Sodexo and The Campus Kitchens Project
College students love to eat. In the dining hall. The quad. The dorm. But at 13 college campuses (and one high school) across the country, students are also discovering the joy of collecting, rescuing, cooking, and serving food to needy neighbors through The Campus Kitchens Project (CKP). Since its founding in 2001 as outgrowth of DC Central Kitchen and with a seed grant from the Sodexo Foundation, CKP has brought together students, dining services staff, food banks, and local vendors to provide more than 715,000 meals in communities from Virginia to Nebraska to Washington state. The Campus Kitchens Project is about more than meals, though. Through its mission of “empowering minds,” the Project promotes education for meal recipients, such as culinary job training, nutrition education, and healthy cooking classes for families. Each Campus Kitchen site develops programming that meets its community’s specific needs. This fall, students and Sodexo staff at two college campuses are busily preparing for their Campus Kitchen launch. The new Campus Kitchen sites are: November marks the “soft opening” for the Campus Kitchen at University of Vermont (UVM), with full operation beginning in January. The Project is a collaborative effort between the Community Services Projects, University Dining Services management, and many other department and organizations that supported the start up and opening of this new student organization. In partnership with the Chittenden County Food Shelf , students will organize, prepare, and serve lunch to close to 200 guests every Saturday. Food will be sourced from excess product from the on-campus dining halls, produce from the school’s garden plot, and donations from local supermarkets, restaurants, and vendors. Meals will be cooked by students in the Simpson Dining Hall, with Sodexo staff supervision.
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As Americans continue to struggle with a battered economy and the ensuing job losses and home foreclosures, hard times have come to every region of the country. 
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