Maryland, New York Farmers Promote Dairy with School Meals
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – American Dairy Association North East hosted three school events to celebrate National School Breakfast Week, March 3-7, to raise awareness about the importance of school breakfasts packed with dairy to help students stay energized, focused, and ready to start the day.
“Ensuring that students have access to school meals is critical to their development, and it opens the door for us to promote milk and dairy foods to boost students’ sucess,” said ADA North East CEO John Chrisman. “It’s been proven that the more students consuming more meals increases milk and dairy sold – it’s a win for everyone.”
Breakfast After the Bell programs give students access to a nutritious breakfast with dairy served in ways that best fit each school. Options include Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab n’ Go carts, or Second Chance Breakfast that offers breakfast during a break in the morning.
During National School Breakfast Week, three local dairy farmers joined ADA North East to recognize schools who are incorporating one or more of the meal service options. They helped build trust in dairy by making the connection between those who produce the milk and dairy products that the students enjoy in school meals.
Neil Peck from Welcome Stock Farm, Schuylerville, N.Y., spoke with school food service decision-makers and students at Giffen Memorial Elementary in Albany, N.Y., about dairy’s role in providing essential nutrition for growing bodies and bodies. New York State Department of Agiculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball participated in the event, as well as First Associate New York State Dairy Ambassador Addison Brown.
In Baltimore, Kalli Ehrhardt of Ehrhardt Farms, Baldwin, Md., joined ADA North East at Essex Elementary School in Baltimore, to celebrate the more than two dozen “grab and go” breakfast carts that serve students. She shared how dairy farmers care for the health and well-being of students by producing such a nutritious product for them to consume in school meals.
“Farmers are committed to ensuring a stable food supply and feeding families with nutrient-dense, cost-effective products, and I’m proud to help nourish our local community,” said Erhardt.
In Philadelphia, ADA North East and the Philadelphia Eagles partnered to present the School District of Philadelphia with a Hometown Grant of $5,000 to use toward the purchase of equipment to readily serve dairy to its students. Swoop, the team’s mascot, helped celebrate with students at Northeast High School.
To learn more about ADA North East school meal programs, click here.
About American Dairy Association North East
American Dairy Association North East (ADA North East) is the dairy farmer-funded organization funded by participating dairy farmer’s checkoff investment to build demand and sales for milk and dairy foods throughout the local region. Representing more than 8,300 dairy farm families in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and northern Virginia, ADA North East develops and implements local programs to drive milk and dairy sales at retail outlets and in schools. The organization also conducts consumer education about dairy through events, traditional and social media, and in collaboration with health professionals through National Dairy Council®. ADA North East works closely with Dairy Management Inc.™, the national dairy checkoff organization, to support nutrition research, national partnerships and developing export markets for dairy to bring a fully integrated promotion program to the region. For more information, visit www.AmericanDairy.com.
