Richland a Breakfast Champion

The Richland School District was honored recently by being named a Champion for Breakfast award winner – the first time a Shafter school has received such an honor.

The school district has been getting more environmentally sound and aware. Under the tutelage of Nutritional Director Mason Hollingworth, the district has implemented several new lunch and breakfast programs. The district has been able to offer every student free lunch and breakfast this year, no matter of their family’s income level. Hollingworth applied for a grant before the year began and was accepted, allowing all of students to receive meals free of charge.

The food has also gotten better, according to parents and students. One parent has a fifth-grader going to Golden Oak, and she comments, “I didn’t care for the food a few years ago, but the past couple of years, the food got a lot better.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Nutrition and Food Service announced five winners of the Champions of Breakfast award. Richland was chosen for its success in boosting breakfast meal quality by collecting and effectively utilizing student feedback to create a high-quality breakfast program.

The School Breakfast program is a no-cost breakfast for all students, no matter what their financial situation is. The program started in 1966 as a pilot program and was made a permanent entitlement program by Congress in 1975.

The US Department of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services administers the program at the federal level. At the state level, SPB is administered by state agencies, which operate through agreements with local school food authorities.

Each year, as in previous years, students are evaluated on their income and need. With the grant, each student is entitled to a lunch at no charge.