The Time for Lunch Campaign is a project of Slow Food USA, an educational non-profit with the goal of creating a world in which everyone can enjoy food that is good, clean and fair.
The Time for Lunch Campaign is asking parents, teachers and every responsible citizen to speak up and tell our nation's leaders that change can't wait: It's time to provide our children with REAL FOOD at school.
Every school day, we have an opportunity to build a strong foundation for our children's health by serving them real food at school. Children who grow up enjoying food that is both delicious and good for them learn healthy habits that last throughout their lives. Each year that we fail to satisfy our children's right to real food is another year we deny our children good health, we diminish their ability to learn and we close the door on their opportunity to succeed.
The need for real school food has never been greater. Today, one in four children is overweight or obese, and one in three will develop diabetes in his or her lifetime. In the face of this crisis, our schools are financially struggling to feed children anything but the overly processed fast food that endangers their health. For many children, school lunch is their only guaranteed meal of the day. Right now, those children are forced to choose between going hungry and being unhealthy.
This fall, Congress will decide whether to update the Child Nutrition Act, which is the law that determines what 30 million children eat at school every day.
By giving schools the resources to serve real food, we can build a strong foundation for our children's health. We can teach them healthy habits that will last them through life. We can make a down payment on health care reform.
That's why the Time for Lunch campaign is asking people everywhere to organize or attend an Eat-In in your community on Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009. On that day, people across America will come together for public potlucks that send a clear message: It's time to provide our children with real food at school. An Eat-In is a potluck. Because it takes place in public, it's also an opportunity to bring neighbors together, get media attention and build support for getting real food in schools. Your Eat-In can take any shape or form - it should reflect your community's values. Get creative! Get more ideas about your Eat-In on the Time for Lunch website.
With your help, 2009 will mark the year this country takes its first step towards satisfying every child's right to real food. It's time for lunch!
For more information and more ways to get involved please, go to http://slowfoodusa.org/timeforlunch.
Read the Time for Lunch platform to learn about the actions needed to get real food in schools. You can also learn more about school food and the Child Nutrition Act on these web sites:
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