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Thank you and welcome, everybody. Thanks so much for joining the webinar in afternoon.
This is a joint webinar by the National Dairy Council and the USDA Food and Nutrition Services,
with mainly the focus around expanding breakfast efforts. My name is Camellia Patey. I'm the
Vice President of School Wellness Partnerships at National Dairy Council, and I'm the relationship
manager with USDA Food and Nutrition Services. So just for a few housekeeping items, if we
can go to next slide, I just wanted to make sure that everybody knows how you can find
the tools. In the upper right-hand corner of your screen you'll see an icon that looks
like three little pieces of paper, so if you haven't been on one of these before, that's
where you can find the handouts for this webinar. And today the only handout that we is the
presentation, but you may want to a copy that for later use. If you look in the upper left-hand
side of your screen, you'll see the Q&A tab. So by clicking on that you'll be able to type
in your question, and we'll answer those at the end of the presentation. We're going to
go through all of our speakers first and then we'll try to get to as many questions as we
can. So type in your questions at any time throughout the presentation, and then we'll
answer those at the end. If you also want to ask a question during that Q&A time period,
you can also do that on your phone by pressing "*!1" and then you'll record your name and
the operator will open up the line for your question. So with that in mind, I'd like to
now go over the agenda for this afternoon's call. We are going to review some of our joint
efforts that are planned for 2014 between the National Dairy Council and the Nutrition
Services. We also have Heather Hopwood from USDA, who is going to give a really brief
overview of why you should really want to get involved with the school breakfast. Then
Bill Ludwig with the Southwest Regional office is going talk about the joint efforts that
they have done with Dairy MAX, the local Dairy Council unit there, on expanding breakfast.
Sarah Baird from National Dairy Council will talk about the upcoming It Starts With School
Breakfast Campaign, and then Carly, from Idaho, is a Fuel Up to Play 60 ambassador, who is
going to talk about the changes that have been happening in her school. So with that,
we'll start right into the work plan and our joint efforts. We've got two main areas of
mutual support between the two organizations. One is on the partnership itself and how we
can support what those activities are that will translate into promotion of the school
programs, both for lunch and breakfast with our end goal increasing par participation.
So some of the details of each of those focus areas, let's start on the next slide where
we talk about the partnership itself. We are mutually inviting each other to attend events,
but not only just attend but participate in these events and then, hopefully, amplifying
out messages through social media efforts. One of the things that we plan to do is host
webinars, which we're doing today, topics of joint interest, so this one is around breakfast,
and we've also taken a look at USDA strike force states. We want to see if the current
involvement with Fuel Up To Play 60 is connecting there and how the programs can help promote
participation in the meal programs in those states. And then, as you will hear later,
as Bill talks about what happened in the southwest region in Dairy MAX expanding their breakfast
efforts there, we want to extend that model to other regions and dairy councils across
the country, so we're hoping that the information will spark your interest in wanting to try
this model. When we talk about school meal programs, the second pillar, it's about promoting
the different programs that are there, mainly around breakfast. One of the things that we're
hoping to have happen is the promotion and support of the Fuel Up To Play 60 Campaign.
The first one was held last November on Make Your Move, and we had some great support with
that. And then Sarah is going to talk to you a little bit later about the It Starts With
School Breakfast Campaign. It's going to happen in March, and you'll hear about that. We also
have funding available for breakfast grants in Fuel Up To Play 60. I believe the next
deadline is in June for schools to apply for that. And we want to investigate how Fuel
Up To Play 60 can support the implementation of the smart snacks that will happen next
school year, and then also how it can support summer feeding programs. Fuel Up To Play 60
will be part of the healthier U. S. School Trainings that are going to be happening across
the country, and that will help demonstrate how schools can achieve both their nutrition
and physical activity requirements. Now we're going to be really busy, so let's go ahead
and get started with today's webinar. I'd like to turn it over to Heather Hopwood who
is a nutritionist with the Child Nutrition Program there at USDA, and she is going to
talk about why you should be interested in School Breakfast. So, Heather. Thank you,
Camellia, and thanks to all of you participating today for your interest in the School Breakfast
Program. We're very excited to share this partnership with you all and talk about some
of the interesting ways that you can participate in School Breakfast. So just to give a brief
overview of what I'll be talking about today, I'll be talking about some of the have benefits
of breakfast, some of the meal pattern requirements, and then some creative ways that schools are
implementing breakfast, and then, finally, some resources that are available to you if
you're interested additional information. So we know that students who eat breakfast
reap both nutrition and health benefits, and academic benefits. As far as nutritional benefits,
we know for sure that hungry children can't learn, and some children may show up to school
not having eaten dinner since the night before. We know that when schools skip breakfast in
the time between their meals increases there concentration goes down and memory function
is impaired. So with no breakfast, a child that has to wait until lunch to each is not
just going to be running low on energy all morning but they may have trouble concentrating
in class and remembering what they're learning. Children who eat breakfast have more energy
for mental and physical activities, so whether they're studying in class or playing during
PE or at recess, we know that all children need energy to be successful. And by eating
breakfast, students get more of the critical vitamins and nutrients they need for proper
growth and develop. Our updated nutrition standards require daily offerings of fruit,
whole grain rich foods, low fat and fat-free milk, and also we have limits on saturated
fat, trans fat, sodium, and calories. So these new standards are being phased in over time,
with most changes taking place this year and next year. Finally, schools that participate
in the School Breakfast Program often report fewer student visits to the school nurse.
There are also several academic benefits associated with breakfast. Studies have shown that students
can increase their test scores when they eat breakfast in the morning. And some principals
have responded to this be providing snacks to students on testing days. And, ideally,
all children should be alert and ready to learn every single day, not just when special
tests are being administered. Studies have also shown that children who eat breakfast
perform better when tested on their cognitive function, such as short term memory, arithmetic,
and logical reasoning, and all of these are essential for success in schools. Teachers
surveyed after participating in school breakfast programs noted an increased level of attentiveness
in their students and improved behavior. And finally, studies have also shown that making
school breakfast convenient and accessible at school can be an incentive for getting
kids to class. But the benefits of breakfast extend beyond the individual children who
are receiving it and into their surrounding environment. We've already talked about how
children who eat breakfast demonstrate improved behavior and concentration. And anyone who
knows what it's like to be around children, particularly a whole classroom full of them,
knows that when children are well behaved you can get a lot more done, so class time
is more productive. Breakfast helps students learn and perform better, and when students
are doing better, schools are expected to do better as well. And this is the logic behind
the initiative to ensure that students eat breakfast on testing days. So why not give
them the same boost for learning every single day. Eating breakfast is also a healthy habit
to teach children, beginning at a young age, and breakfast can contribute to achieving
nutrition goals that are part of school wellness policies. So as I said, offering school breakfast
gives students the opportunity to start the school day well nourished. And we're facilitating
breakfast in schools by allowing schools to offer a variety of foods, including popular
items like fruit smoothies to meet the meal pattern requirements. But we also know that
it can be a challenge to get food into the cafeteria before school and so many schools
have implemented creative ways to offer breakfast to students. There are grab-and-go breakfasts,
which are typically pre-packed breakfast. They allow extensive flexibility and serving
options. Students can pick up meals in the cafeteria and take them elsewhere, such as
a classroom or hallways, outside, in the cafeteria, really wherever a school deems it's appropriate
for them to eat. Breakfast can also be loaded onto carts and served in classrooms or high-traffic
areas throughout the school. With this model, schools gain a lot of flexibility on when
to serve breakfast, before or at the very beginning of the school day. They could do
it in a homeroom-type setting in class, or during a morning break. Breakfast in the classroom
is a method of serving breakfast while students are in class, either allowing them to eat
during class or while taking a break. This is sort of an extension of the grab-and-go
model. Breakfast typically reach students by way of a delivery cart, or by allowing
students to pick up their meals in the cafeteria or another location, and then bring them into
the classroom. So we've seen rapid adoption of breakfast in the classroom and expanding
interest. If this is not something that you all already offer, then we encourage you to
explore whether this option might be viable for you. To make these models work, it's very
important to get the entire school staff on board. Teachers, administrators should all
be supportive of breakfast and have a sense of how important breakfast is to students'
learning. More broadly, you could also switch to an alternative model where it's universal
free breakfast, where you serve all breakfast to students at no charge. These are available
through our provisions two and three, or community eligibility. Under provisions two and three,
you can opt to serve universal free breakfast to students, but in CEP you have to offer
free breakfast and lunches to all students. Schools that switch to a universal breakfast
often report very large increases in participation, especially if they work to incorporate breakfast
into the school day in a way that's convenient for students. And this is most economical
at schools where the large majority of students are eligible for free or reduced price meals.
Breakfast after the first period is sometimes referred to as the "second chance breakfast"
or "breakfast after the bell," and provides a morning nutrition break to students but
slightly late in the day. This model is intended to capture students who might have skipped
breakfast first thing in the morning because they weren't hungry or they were running late.
It can be provided in the classroom or, more commonly, through grab-and-go bags in a central
location in the school, and this is an ideal model for secondary students. Breakfast on
the Bus is an innovative service model in which students are provided with a prepackaged
breakfast while riding the bus to school, and this a potentially viable service option
for schools at which most of the students not only bus in but spend at least 15 minutes
riding the bus. It's unique in that it requires a bit of special planning to handle delivery
to the buses and, of course, trash disposal. But it can be a great way to feed a lot of
students before the school day starts. So these are all alternatives to traditional
breakfast service, which is typically provided before the start of the school day in the
cafeteria where students consume their meal and then go to class. So this slide just shows
a testimonial of some teachers' experiences implementing breakfast in the classroom in
Maryland. One effective strategy in building support for breakfast in the classroom is
giving teachers, custodians, administrators, and other staff members the opportunity to
speak with people from schools where breakfast in the classroom has been implemented. And
often hearing about the positive experiences from their peers in other schools can often
ease their anxiety about trying out something different. So outreach can be an important
component, successfully implementing or expanding participation in the School Breakfast Program.
Piloting some of these alternative service methods, offering universal free breakfast,
and maximizing direct certification all require the support of a wide range of stakeholders.
Having the buy-in of administrators, principals, and superintendents makes a huge difference
when expanding the breakfast programs. It's also important to make sure that parents,
students, and the community are aware of school breakfast programs and the important benefit
that is they offer. State agencies, including extension agencies and anti-hunger organizations,
are also available to provide technical support. Local wellness committees are already formed
and looking at ways to prioritize the health and nutrition of students within the district.
So the program needs to be marketed consistently to parents and students, and also promoted
within the community. So initiatives like the partnership we're talking about today
complement our efforts to start students off with a healthy meal. This slide shows some
resources that are available. USDA recently released an updated school breakfast toolkit
that's available online. It's designed for individuals who want to increase access to
the School Breakfast Program, and it contains tools for helping you determine the type of
meal service that's most suited to your needs and developing a marketing plan to build support
for offering breakfast to students. It also contains tools that will help you estimate
costs and evaluate your program. We also have a lot of information online about the breakfast
meal pattern requirements, including training materials and frequently asked questions on
breakfast. With that, I'll turn it back over to Camellia. Thanks, Heather. Those are some
really great tools that I'm sure everybody would be grateful to take advantage of. As
I mentioned at the beginning, we'll be taking questions at the end, so be sure and where
them down. Our next speaker is Bill Ludwig who is the administrator from the southwest
region. I'll turn it over to you now, Bill. Well thank you, ma'am. About two-and-a-half/three
years ago, one of the priorities for me in the Southwest Region was to expand the Breakfast
Program throughout the five states that I'm responsible for. And while we were working
on plans to do that and trying to come up with some models to reach out to local school
districts, we realized and met the Dairy MAX folks. I don't know how we found them, but
my chief of staff, Leslie, found them and set up the meeting, and we went over just
to talk with them to see what they were all about, and what their priorities were. And
by coincidence, their number one priority was the same as mine, and that was to expand
the breakfast outreach and get more schools, get more kids to eat breakfast every morning.
We sat down, my staff and my counterpart, their regional administrator, Mike Konkle,
sat down and developed several models for us to try to see which one was successful,
and I won't go into the various models except the one that we found that did work and we've
been successful using. And that's a model where we target an urban area primarily. We
have done some rural area, but it's primarily urban, where we look at the number of children
that's eating free lunch and free breakfast, and we compare those numbers, how many kids
are eating lunch every day and how many kids are eating breakfast. And what we found was
in those school districts where you had 75 and 80% free and reduced lunch, that normally
about half or a little less than half of those kids were actually eating breakfast. So generally,
40%, 45% of the kids would breakfast out of the total. So we targeted those school districts,
and actually Mike and myself and staff, we would go in and sit down with superintendents.
Now we targeted the larger school districts -- Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth,
Arlington -- to go in to sit down with the superintendent, because the model that had
been used in a lot of places was trying to work with individual principals and school
food service directors. And to be quite honest, Mike and I didn't have the time to be able
to go out and meet with those people, so we decided we would try a meet with the superintendents.
The model has been very successful. We go out, sit down with the superintendent, and
to be honest with you, when we first starting with the superintendent, it takes them a little
while to fully understand why we're there and what we're talking about and for the lights
to come on. I'll be honest with you. But when you start talking that leaving $150,000 or
$200,000 a day in federal reimbursement on the table, it gets their attention pretty
quick. And that was what happened here in Dallas. I don't remember the exact number,
$180,000 or $190,000 a day in federal reimbursement was being left by Dallas. Then they do start
to want to hear more about the program. We've been successful in Dallas since we met with
the Dallas superintendent. We now have 164 elementary schools in Dallas. Every elementary
school in Dallas is feeding breakfast. Every middle school in Dallas is feeding breakfast,
same thing in Houston. A couple weeks ago we met in El Paso with the superintendent.
Dairy MAX and I, we're going back out to El Paso here in a few weeks to meet with the
school board to talk to them with, but the superintendent already made it clear that
he wants to expand school breakfast. Normally it's breakfast in the classroom in all schools
in El Paso. We worked outside of Texas. Mike and I have done some work together over in
New Mexico, which happens to have a law that says any school that's over 80% free and reduced
has to serve breakfast. Some of the things that we've heard from those superintendents
when we've gone back to eat with them, like here in Dallas, it's just like we were saying
earlier, test scores are higher, there's less visits to the nurses, overall attendance is
better by the students. So when you go back and talk to superintendents that's implemented,
that's the thing you hear. Some principals push back. They don't want to do it for various
reasons. They're worried about bugs in the classroom. They're worried about having to
transport the food to the classroom. But, predominately, once they implement it, those
principals will be your biggest cheerleaders, because they see the difference and the teachers
see the difference ins the students once it's been implemented. After we expanded that model,
we started doing Fuel Up For 60, so that when Mike and his team were out in the school working
with Fuel Up For 60, we talked about the healthier U.S. schools so that when we had a Fuel Up
For 60 school, we also try to get them to meet the different requires for healthier
U.S. schools. We have done that successfully, and now we're starting to work on summer,
trying to get more kids to eat in the Summer Program, so we're working with them on that.
We've had a couple models that we've used. I don't know that we've settled on one specifically.
But we have been very successful in breakfast, and that's about it from Southwest. Okay,
thanks, Bill. We're hoping that the great results that the southwest region has experienced
will motivate other regions to want to pilot this model. Now let me turn the presentation
over to Sarah Baird, who is the vice president of marketing and communications for National
Dairy Council, to talk about our upcoming breakfast campaign. Sarah? Thanks, Camellia.
Hi everybody. Thanks for joining today. As Camellia stated, I'm here to talk about our
new campaign that launches -- we've actually had two launch date, so you might have already
heard about it, but we launched it yesterday, the 17th of February, and it goes through
March 30th. The campaign, you may be familiar with our prior campaign focused on physical
activity. It was the "Make Your Move" campaign, and we felt from a Fuel Up To Play 60 and
National Dairy Council perspective that we had a huge opportunity with everything that
everyone else has talked about today to really raise awareness and gain support for school
breakfast, so that's what we decided to focus our second campaign of the year on. Our goal,
as it states here, is really to drive awareness. If you think about the campaigns and the program
overall, the program itself really focuses in schools. But with the campaign, we look
to jump outside of school and get other audiences involved, which you will see in some of the
further slides. We want to make sure that we continue to increase the demand for and
participation in school breakfast as we're driving awareness, and just really making
sure that new people hear about it and then they receive what call to actions they can
do, and how they can, whether they're a parent or a student or a teacher who may not have
school breakfast at their school, or a community leader for that matter, we want them to all
hear about the benefits of school breakfast and then what they can do to make it become
actionable at their schools. The jobs have we to get done with the campaign is really
to created a movement. We want to create a moment in time that rallies all audiences
around school breakfast and specifically entice some key partners and community supporters
to promote and get involved. Secondly, again, we want to drive awareness and build support.
I think that the key that a couple of the other speakers talked about is showcasing
the different serving methods. When general mom and the Middle America thinks about school
breakfast, they always think about breakfast in the cafeteria, but we know that there's
so many other delivery methods, and so many that are working around the country. So we
want to showcase not only these methods but also the benefits, the learning connections
that we know that helping students -- that eating breakfast helps students better learn
and better perform in schools. So those two big pieces are what we're focusing on for
the campaign. Next slide. So this is a very busy slide, but hopefully it will make sense
after I explain it to you. So like I said, typically the program really focuses in school,
and I'm sure you've heard some of the successes stories of what schools have been able to
accomplish with this around the country. But the campaign, if you just look at the slide,
there is an in-school come point but there's also a massive surround sound reach to get
to all those multiple audiences that I spoke about. So what I'm going to do is quickly
break down what all the components are of this campaign so you can get a little breadth
of what we have. So first I'm going to start with the in-school activation, and that started
February 17th, which I did yesterday. We launched it to schools early, so the next two weeks
we're really targeted getting the schools involved and aware what the campaign is, so
they can really put their ideas and the resources into action for National School Breakfast
week. So what they can do in schools is participate in the campaign by organizing or in completing
one. There's activation ideas or there's plays, there's breakfast theme plays that they could
participate in; program advisors who report what the school did, they can report it on
their dashboard and they have a chance to win prizes like an NFL player during this
time. Same thing from the youth engagement standpoint, students who participate in the
activities will also have an opportunity to win prizes like customized NFL merchandise.
They have a chance to earn points, which gets them up to the level of student ambassadors
so they can be -- there's many different ways for people to get involved from an in-school
perspective and, again, focusing on, really the ramp up period of the first two weeks.
Going to the bigger circle, the surround sound out-of-school activation, as you can see,
there's lot of pieces to this puzzle. So what I'm going to do is start and try and figure
out where the easiest place for me to start is. Let's start at the 9:00 o'clock. You will
see that parents and ESPN, there's going to be the national event happening to really
launch this campaign off the week of School Breakfast Week. So we are going to have an
event. Actually, it's going to be two events now, one in New York on March 3rd, and another
event, which we're calling a "national event," in Dallas on March 4th. And the event in New
York is really to gather some of the lifestyle media that is housed in New York to get them
to become aware of school breakfast and the different opportunities and the benefits of
school breakfast around the country. So they will have a chance to write about it to their
audiences. And we look to launch the press release on that day, and that really kicks
off a storm of amplification throughout the month of March. So in New York what we'll
be doing is, prior to the event, media, we're inviting media to come and do a taste test,
where we're going to be not just taste testing different recipes at different schools, specifically
through the new pilots, a breakfast lab pilot that National Dairy Council is working on,
but, also, we want them to witness the difference serving methods that happen around the country.
So they have an opportunity to taste and to touch and to really get the background of
what the successful delivery methods are around the country. Then they'll go into a larger
event where we'll have kids. Undersecretary Concannon will be speaking there, and a few
others. We'll have some players there to really bring awareness to the New York perspective
to school breakfast. The next day, in Dallas, we'll be doing a similar event; that is, it's
going to be a little larger, at a school. Bill, I think you will be there, and Dairy
MAX will be there. The Cowboys will be represented, and we will be having deans, who is a partner
of this effort, will share our strength with our campaign. Deans will be presenting a $100,000
check of breakfast grants to the National Dairy Council Fuel Up To Play 60 program to
really bring some awareness to why it's so important for schools to have school breakfast.
So then those two events really kick off, like I said, a month of what's happening.
I'm going to go around the clock, so starting up with the National Amplification Players
and Clubs, as you all know, we work with all 32 teams around the country. We work directly
with the league, and we work dozens and dozens and hundreds, actually, of NFL players. So
our goal is to use our different amplification efforts through those clubs and through the
players to get everybody aware and involved. So those players who have hundreds of thousands
of Twitter followers, if we can get them to comment about this importance school breakfast
and the fact that they ate school breakfast, we think that will really start to resonate
with some of the fans and some of the consumers around the country. Continuing on to 12:00
o'clock, where is says "Partner Amplification," this is where we'd like to work with our partner,
including all those of you on the phone with really sharing those messages and getting
to your core audiences on the difference, the values, the benefits, everything that
we talked about earlier in this presentation, making sure that at the end of the day, everybody
has one or two simple call to actions, so when they say "What can I do," there's a very
simple place to at least show them where to start. Just below that, like I said, the "Share
our Strength" in deans through partnership, they are our two largest supports of this
campaign, because Share our Strength, this is their passion, and we're able to use a
lot of the resources and information that they have. They've put out a lot of research.
They've created a lot of research that we can help get to different audiences to make
them understand the importance of this effort. Continuing on to 1:00 o'clock let's say, the
unique content throughout the month, we are going to be asking people to really help us
create some digital content that we can really get consumers involved. The kids in the past
two weeks, starting yesterday, kids in schools, we're encouraging them if they're over 13,
to take breakfast selfies of themselves. So if they're at school, if they're in first
period, if they're entire class is eating breakfast in the classroom and their program
advisor wants to take a picture, we want them to take that picture and put it up on Twitter,
on Facebook. Let the world see that they are supported and they are eating school breakfast
in their school. The more people who do that the better. Continuing on to the 3:00 o'clock,
where it says Campaign Landing Page," there is going to be a -- there's a landing page,
which I'll go into a little bit more, which really condenses all of the information. It's
a one-stop shop that we see to get people to take that first call to action. We want
them to go here to become aware of school breakfast and what they can do around the
country. There's great resources from Share our Strength. There's great resources from
National Dairy Council. There is going to be a feed on the site that shows -- it pulls
in all the breakfast selfies and all the reports and how everybody is talking about School
Breakfast onto this from Face book and Twitter, and other social media around, to show what
the conversation is during the month of March. And then people, whether they're youth or
they're student or they're program advisors can also go here and go directly to their
dashboards. So we're looking forward to launching this. It did launch yesterday, but throughout
the next six weeks, we'll be adding more and more content. Going down to, let's see, 5:00
o'clock, "30 Local Breakfast Events." We are so happy. Originally we wanted to get just
eight to ten events around the country to really showcase, again, bringing awareness
to School Breakfast around the country from a local standpoint, and we are thrilled from
the National Dairy Council and all the local regions, we will be having a total between
31 and 34 events, and all of these events range from a couple hundred people being -- sorry
100 to 200 people being involved, to well over 600 people to a thousand being involved
with some of these events. So we are thrilled at the amount of awareness that -- we feel
like not just during School Breakfast Week, National School Breakfast Week, but throughout
the month of March, that we think we'll be able to bring to new audiences that maybe
weren't aware of this school breakfast and the benefits of school breakfast in the past.
And then continuing on, just under 5:00 and 6:00 o'clock, again we will be supporting
this on all of our social media, our properties. We hope that all of you will be showing it
with your social media properties. The hashtag that we're using is #schoolbreakfast. So we
hope that everybody uses that. It's generic so everybody can use it, and as they're talking
about school breakfast and the importance of school breakfast throughout the month of
March, we wanted to, then, aggregate all of that on that landing page so people can follow
the conversation. Okay, the next slide, please. So this just goes back into some of the noise
that we're creating, and this is how we hope to get the noise out there. As I mentioned
there's the 30 -- 34, with 4 currently in discussions, cities around the country, in
March, focusing on these hero events. There will be parents and community calls to action,
and we're working not just with the National PTA but also with the local PTAs and the regional
offices in how we can get direct parent involvement, and really to educate some of the PTAs on
the importance in some of the background of the learning connection, because it's not
widely known from a parent audience, so we want to get that information out there. And
then, like I said, we want to create surround sound where we will be having national and
local media outlets outreach. We'll be working directly with "The Chew," which is a morning
television show in if you haven't seen it. They will be at our national event in New
York, but then a couple days later, three of our student ambassadors and Carla Hall
who sits on our Gen Use board who is a co-host of "The Chew," they will be doing a special
segment, focusing specifically on the importance of school breakfast. And Carla will be working
with some of the other chefs on "The Chew" to create some of the approved breakfasts
that are starting to be used in different schools around the country. Next slide. So
how can you help and how can you help support? Like I said, the landing page that just kicked
off yesterday is startwithschoolbreakfast.com. I encourage you all to go there, if you're
at your computer after this presentation, go there and check it out. The content will
be added to and will be changing throughout the month. We want you to join the conversation
on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. Take your breakfast selfie pictures. We suggest
that you upload them, get group shops if you're at an event. If you are at school during this
time and you're there during school breakfast, see if they will be willing to upload photos
on their kids. The more and more people we can get to show the support the more awareness
we can create with the people who may not understand the value and the benefits of school
breakfast. We want you to always use that hashtag as you're using it. As you're posting
whatever comments and whatever research, whatever breakfast selfie you want to take, use the
#schoolbreakfast hashtag. And then another thing, make sure there's always the wellness
impact report and the infographic that we have, the National Dairy Council has on their
website. It really provides the research and the background to show how important breakfast
is for students. And like I said, it's not general public knowledge to a lot of parents
out there, so the more that we can get this information out in more hands the better.
And lastly, just we will be sending amplification e-mails, we will be sending partner e-mails.
As you receive those throughout the month, please amplify it. Please send it to your
networks and make sure that they know how they can get involved. And that is it for
me, Camellia. Okay, thanks, Sarah. We're really excited about the campaign, in case you couldn't
tell. But we hope that that excitement that's created will provide you an opportunity for
your schools to expand your breakfast efforts. You can even highlight the successes that
you have at your school, and then if there are local events in your area, we hope that
you will participate. Our last speaker this afternoon is Carly Snooks. And Carly is the
Fuel Up To Play 60 student ambassador for the State of Idaho. And we've asked her to
share what she has done in her school. So I'm going to turn it over to you now, Carly.
Thanks, Camellia. Hi, my name is Carly Snooks. I appreciate this opportunity and I'm excited
to take a few minutes of your time today to tell you a little bit about me and the program
I represent. A few years ago, my brother, Hunter, applied and was chosen to be a national
ambassador. He was in middle school at the time and thought it would be great to get
his elementary school involved. He set up an appointment with my principal to see if
she was interested. She said she would love to but she couldn't take it on because she
was close to her delivery date. My mom worked at the elementary school, so the principal
asked her if she would like to be the program advisor. She, of course, said yes. This worked
out great for me, because my mom and the principal thought it would be best to make the student
council part of the Fuel Up To Play 60 team, and I was serving on the student council at
the time. I was a local ambassador for a couple of years, and then last year I applied to
be a state or national ambassador and was lucky enough to be chosen as one of Idaho
State ambassadors. This was something that I wanted to do because I love seeing the difference
that the program had made in my elementary school, and I was hoping to continue what
my brother had done at the middle school. This program really has been a blessing in
my life and has given me so many opportunities. I absolutely love that it gives students a
voice. I am only one student and one voice. I know through my determination I can make
a difference, but I knew I would be more successful if I had a student team. Luckily, my principal
agreed to make a Fuel Up To Play 60 advisory class as an option for students. This is the
first year with this option. It has been a learn process, but I think that we are making
small steps in the right direction. I am taught my team about the program. They have helped
me plan our Fuel Up To Play 60 activities and get the word out about the program. For
the program to be successful, it absolutely is necessary to have adult support. My program
advisor is new to the program this year, but, luckily, I have support from other adults
in my school, such as the front office and my principal. I have also been trying to build
a strong relationship with my kitchen manager. I would also like to add that I wouldn't have
the successes that I've had this year without the support of the Idaho Dairy Council. I
hope they are listening today and know that I think they are absolutely amazing. I am
also very thankful that my mom signed up to be a co-program advisor at my school. She
has been able to help me and give me support and give support to my current program advisor.
You may think she is supportive because she is my mom. That may be partly true, but she
is also very passionate about the Fuel Up To Play 60 program. And even though she is
not working at the elementary school anymore, she has offered to help them with anything
they need to keep their program running and successful. My brother currently serves on
the Fuel Up To Play 60 Youth Council. I guess you could say the Fuel Up To Play 60 program
is a family affair. Passionate program advisors and passionate students really can make a
difference. I participated in the Major Move campaign in the fall and I had the awesome
opportunity of challenging Olympic medalist, Kristin Armstrong, to make her move by dancing.
She accepted my challenge. She and some local students [inaudible] and I had a great time
dancing on the Capitol steps. I also wrote a proclamation, and our Governor declared
November 22nd Fuel Up To Play 60 Make your Move Day in Idaho. Those are just a couple
of my successes during the Make Your Move campaign. I'm excited about the It Starts
with School Breakfast campaign that was kicked off yesterday. I have already written another
proclamation and sent it off to our governor, and hoping that National School Breakfast
Week will also be declared as Fuel Up To Play 60, It Starts with School breakfast Week in
Idaho. I have been working with my Dairy Council and will be holding a local event in Downtown
Boise. I will also be holding a local event at my school. We are still in the planning
process, but I am hoping to hold three separate that events with students can try a smoothie
and an uber cookie. At the event, I will ask students to take a school breakfast survey
to see what they like and don't like about school breakfast. I will encourage students
to continue to eat breakfast during the campaign, and after the campaign. To gain excitement,
I will ask the kids and staff to put tickets on the bottom of random smoothie cups, and
if a student gets a ticket they will get a prize. The prizes will encourage healthy eating
and physical activity. As one of Idaho's ambassadors, I had the awesome opportunity of attending
the Fuel Up To Play 60 in July 2013. I learned so much there. Something that really stayed
we was the discussion about food and security. I had no idea so many students are hungry
every day. I came home and couldn't get it off my mind. I thought to myself, "That can't
really be the case in my school, could it?" Come to find out, about only half the students
at my school who are eligible for free and reduced meals are actually eating school breakfast.
I know most teenagers worry about self image and don't want to be seen doing something
that may seem unpopular to other students. It's likely that those students who are on
the meal plan and aren't eating breakfast are too embarrassed and fear their peers will
judge them. I know it is hard enough when times are tuff; therefore, I want to help
school breakfast appealing to all state of the unions. The school not only help those
students feel confident in eating breakfast, it will give all students an option, including
those who may not have had a chance to eat at home. I may not solve all the problems
at my school, but my parents have always told me, "You miss a hundred percent of the shots
you don't take." I think this problem of work taking a shot, and if you want to listen to
a problem, you have to start somewhere. I'm hoping that by holding a breakfast event at
my school, I will be able to reduce the stigma that is connected with the school breakfast,
because no one should have to start their day feeling hungry. At my school the students
really do like the smoothies and the uber cookies. This started with Fuel Up To Play
60 funds by the way, when my brother was at the school. More students eat them at break
than at breakfast time. For lunch, the students also like the common meals like lasagna, pizza,
and hamburgers. but I really noticed that they also like the build your own salad or
sub sandwich options. In closing, I would like to again say that I really appreciate
the opportunity that I have had to talk to you today. I hope you have been able to feel
my passion that I have for this program and realize that I am only one student, and there
are many, many other students out there with Fuel Up To Play 60 success stories. Thank
you. Thank you, Carly. I think you're awesome. You really are the reason that all of us on
this call do what we do. It's really great to hear your story. Thank you. Thanks so much.
Now we'd like to take the time we have left to answer questions, if you have those. Remember
to type in your questions in the box up on the left, or to use your phone, press "*1,"
and the operator will assist your call. So let's see, the first question I have, Sarah,
this one is for you. "On this call we've got people that are both at the school district
level, state department, and also in the regional offices with USDA. If they wanted to get involved
with the I Starts with School Breakfast Campaign, what would your first suggestion or something
easy that they could do?" Easy -- okay. So I think well obviously my first answer is
going to say go to the landing page to see what call to actions you could do in your
area. So that would be my first. I'm going to give you my top three. Second would be
show that you support the campaign through social media, and link to the landing page
or link to the learning connection report. Make others aware who follow you aware that
this campaign is happening and the reasons why you support it. And three, if you're at
a school or you work with schools, if you're a superintendent or from a district standpoint,
my third thing would say, make sure all of your schools are getting involved. Okay, that's
great. We've got another question that came in. Bill, I think one is for you. It says
"When would the Southwest Region and Dairy MAX information be available if someone was
interested, and where would they be able to find this information?" You can call my public
affairs office and ask for Teri, and her number is (214) 290-9835. And she can provide you
with anything you need. That's great. And I know that both working at the national office
with the National Dairy Council and USDA, you know, we will be sending up follow-up
information too, to see if there are interested regions in trying to duplicate this pattern.
Let's see, I've got another question here. "How do I find my local Dairy Council?" Sarah,
can you answer that one for us. Sure. You can go to the nationaldairycouncil.org website,
and there is a locator there. There's actually a list of all of the -- I'm trying to find
the page as I talk, and you can find it there. The other way you could do, I should get paid
from Google for saying this. Go to Google, go to your search engine, and just type in
"Dairy Council" for the state, so Dairy Council for Illinois or Dairy Council for Idaho or
Colorado, and it will come up in one of the first search engines, whichever is faster
for you. Great. And, Bill, here is another question for you. "What do you think made
your joint work together with Dairy MAX on the breakfast expansion effort successful?"
Well, number one, we had the same priority. We both wanted to see more kids here, especially
in Texas, eat breakfast, and I think the model that we used is why we were successful. Going
in and sitting down with the superintendent that's over the whole school district has
really made a difference. Now, you know, I'll be honest, we haven't had a hundred percent
every time. We got kicked out of one superintendent's office. But out of, probably 12, that's the
only one that hasn't been receptive and hasn't done something to expand school breakfast.
I mean we met with Grand Prairie and Arlington, and Grand Prairie has done some expansion
and some other ones. But you really hit pay dirt when you get to a big place like Texas,
in Dallas. When they look at the amount of federal dollars that they're leaving on the
table every day, that really seems to get their attention too. Okay, great. Carly, let
here's a question for you. What would you do to encourage schools in how they would,
if they wanted to get their students involved? If you were like a school nutrition person
and then said, "My gosh, Carly's doing all these cool things out in Idaho, I might want
to get some of the students in my school involved," what would you recommend that they do? I would
really recommend that they go to the Fuel Up To Play 60 website. That's great, because
there may already be a team there that they can take advantage of. That's good. Well I
don't see any further questions that are in here, so we will give everyone five minutes
back into their day. We really appreciate your participation and listening this afternoon.
If you've got any other questions, we'll be glad to follow up with those afterwards. Thanks
so much everybody.