All children in America deserve a good breakfast. It’s hard to argue with that idea, right? Well, 1 in 5 children in New York City alone struggles with hunger. Thankfully, according to act.mtv.com, the No Kid Hungry campaign is pulling in some big-name supporters for “Powered by Breakfast NYC.”
Watch how NYC children are affected by this issue:
[vimeo 107932581 w=500 h=281]
The “Powered by Breakfast NYC” campaign hopes to pressure Mayor de Blasio to make breakfast part of the school day for all New York Public School students, which would essentially allow an additional 825,000 kids in the city to start the day with a healthy, nutritious meal.
Some Hollywood celebrities got involved: Jeff Bridges, Amanda Seyfried, Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, and Sarah Hyland all sent tweets to the mayor to ask him to support the “Powered by Breakfast NYC” campaign, and Bridges starred in a PSA to support the cause.
Although free breakfast is available in NYC right now, less than 25 percent of kids are actually eating the meal because it’s served in the cafeteria before the bell rings – when so many children are in transit to school.
And it’s not just their stomachs that will be affected by eating breakfast. Children who eat breakfast reportedly score “17.5% higher on math tests, attend 1.5 more days of school each year and are 20% more likely to graduate high school.”
So what changes can be made to make sure kids are getting the most important meal of the day? If breakfast is served when students get to class, as it is in the pilot program mentioned in the video above, it could service all students present. Schools could also look into getting a “grab-n-go” type of breakfast, which will allow students to grab the food from the cafeteria and eat it on the way to and in class, right after the bell rings.
You can learn more about the campaign here. To sign the petition to support the campaign, click here. To donate or learn about other ways raise funds for NYC or your own local schools, click here.
article by Claire Biggs (additions by Lori Lakin Hutcherson)
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