Across the Commonwealth, nutrition professionals and communities have been working hard each day to ensure students and families receive nutritious meals and strive to prevent hunger. Check out the recent news highlighting Massachusetts school nutrition.
With the tremendous amount of support free school lunch has brought to students and families during the pandemic, on Tuesday, April 20th, 2021, the USDA announced they will be continuing free school meals to all students regardless of their family’s income through June 30, 2022! What a great win for school nutrition and the heroic support from school lunch professionals.
To recognize the hard work of school nutrition professionals, Massachusetts Governor Charles D. Baker signed a proclamation declaring May 7, 2021 School Lunch Hero Day! The video to the left was made by DESE to highlight the great work of these school nutrition professionals during the pandemic.You can view the full, signed proclamation here.
The School Nutrition Association of Massachusetts announced their 2021 award winners for both Massachusetts School Nutrition Employee of the Year and Massachusetts School Nutrition Manager of the Year in April. Congratulations to employee of the year Christine Edelstein-Dodds, assistant cook at Vincent Igo Elementary school in Foxborough and manager of the year, Shelley Mello, school nutrition manager at Acushnet Elementary School in Acushnet.
Lastly, Project Bread had a feature article on May 5, 2021 for the 53rd Walk for Hunger Day on May 2nd. 1,500 participants, 233 teams, came together and raised $1.1 million to fund COVID-19 Hunger Relief in Massachusetts. Way to go Massachusetts!
