SNA in DC: Focus on Funding

PROPOSING A PARTNERSHIP: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told the SNA to find a partner in the USDA.

Calling childhood hunger “a moral outrage,” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack brought a crowd of 700 school nutrition professionals to their feet at last month School Nutrition Association Legislative Action Conference.

Vilsack, who vowed to improve the nutritional value of school meals and to increase funding, asked the audience to continue to work towards President Barack Obama's goal of eliminating childhood hunger by 2015.

“We are asking folks over here to give a little so youngsters can get a little more,” Vilsack said, continuing to state that the SNA has a “partner in the USDA.”

Never have “the stars aligned” in such a way for the SNA, said Marshall Matz, legal counsel to the SNA, going on to state that the issue of fighting hunger is not a partisan issue.

Later in the week, Katie Wilson, SNS president, testified before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, focusing on the need for increased funding for school nutrition programs, noting that many families who are struggling in the face of a flagging economy are turning to child nutrition programs.