This is a sponsored post and all opinions and commentary is my own.
The Santa Monica Pier is fun for more than just entertainment, roller coasters, games and food. There are a lot of fun events and so many things to do and see on the pier.
We had a chance to visit the Powered by Breakfast event recently on the Santa Monica Pier here in California. This event was a fun event for family and especially kids. The purpose is to support the push to make breakfast a part of kid’s school days.
This fun event was on March 4, 2019 and had fun games and samples to take home. All to learn a little about Powered By Breakfast and the No Kid Hungry campaign.
Included was a live DJ, fun samples, energy-generating bikes, photobooth and games.
Samples included:
- Chobani Gimmes
- Bobs Red Mill Grains & Oats
- Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats
Check out the Powered by Breakfast campaign on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
WHAT IS POWERED BY BREAKFAST
This simple idea is great because it helps in many ways. The goal is to sure all kids are not hungry and ready to begin their long school days. Kids and anyone I know love to begin their days with a healthy breakfast to get them going. Right now, only some schools have breakfast programs, and most are early in the morning much before school even starts with many schools having no breakfast program.
With breakfast in schools, even in the classroom, kids can learn about why food is important and keep them happy during class. I know my kids have a much better day with proper sleep, wholesome meals before and during school, and a nice family dinner to end the day.
It’s a no brainer to the many benefits of getting kids breakfast, everyone understands the benefits to eating breakfast. I know my day seems better with a nice healthy breakfast. For children, they constantly need food, so they need strong healthy meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner EVERY DAY.
The No Kid Hungry campaign estimates roughly 3 million kids do not get a healthy breakfast to begin their day. While schools have free lunch programs for low-income families, many times if a breakfast is offered it is very early in the morning. Even up to an hour before the morning bell.
WHAT BREAKFAST AT SCHOOL REALLY MEANS
The goal of Powered by Breakfast is to get breakfast into schools just like lunch. This means having a breakfast time after the first bell and make it part of the daily school routine. One Oakland, CA school that has implemented this program saw the number of kids eating breakfast jump from 30 to 400.
The millions of kids not getting a healthy breakfast is more than a sad statistic. These are real children, American children, going throughout their days hungry. This creates students who are HANGRY, not in a joking matter. No one likes to be Hungry while having to focus. Being hungry makes me not want to focus and irritable. This will hurt any kids grades and overall happiness.
Sometimes it all starts with self-esteem. Many low-income families have kids that are ashamed to be labeled “poor.” The reality is no matter what socioeconomic class one comes from, eating breakfast and lunch is important for all kids. Free lunches are great with some schools even having breakfast programs. However sometimes these programs can make students stand out by receiving the free meals or require kids to get to school much earlier getting less sleep.
By making breakfast open to all, there is NO wondering or pointing out who is receiving free meals. All that matters is that children are eating and ready for their days. It benefits all students to have all students focused and learning.
HOW TO GET FREE BREAKFAST INTO A SCHOOL
The best way to get a breakfast program into your local school is to say something. Ask what is offered. By making breakfast part of the regular school day, kids can be happy, healthy, and focused. Doing better on tests and having overall better moods and attitudes.
4 Ways Breakfast can be served to kids in school
Breakfast in Class – Breakfast is delivered to class rooms by cooler and
insulated bag. Kids are given about 15 minutes to eat.
Schools have seen an average of 88 percent of kids eating school breakfast
with this model.
Grab and Go to Class – Students get package breakfasts from kiosk type of carts
in busy areas. Students are then allowed to eat before or after bell rings.
Schools have seen an average of 59 percent of kids eating school breakfast
with this model.
Second Chance Breakfast – A small break is given often between first and second
period. This can work with kiosks or opening the cafeteria. This program is
great for middle or high school students who maybe skip breakfast to hang out
with friends or who may not be hungry at first in the morning.
Schools have seen an average of 58 percent of kids eating school breakfast
with this model.
Universal Breakfast – This is one for the entire school. It opens breakfast to everyone, so anyone can eat a free breakfast. This helps to remove any stigma that only lower-income kids get a free breakfast. Plus it allows kids to be ready to go.
Help by telling your Governor that you want him or her to support breakfast in schools.
MAKE BREAKFAST HAPPEN!
Look into helping start a breakfast program in your community. Check out this link for more info on how to Start a breakfast program at your school.
Find resources about the program and check the FRAC (Food Research & Action Center)Eligibility for Community Eligibility Provision database to find out if a specific school qualifies.
We can all help get kids ready for school and ultimately their futures. We benefit as a society and a nation with a productive schooling system that sets kids up for success. Kids need food to grow and they grow to learn.
Thanks for sharing and hopefully you can help us support the Powered by breakfast campaign.
Sponsors include:
Kellogg
- https://www.instagram.com/kelloggsus/
Citi
- https://twitter.com/citibank *
- https://www.instagram.com/citibank/ *
- https://www.facebook.com/citibank/
Amazon
- https://twitter.com/amazonnews
- https://www.instagram.com/amazonnews/
As they say, breakfast is the healthiest meal of the day. Let’s help kids get it on time before school starts!
This is so sad that kids in our country do not have breakfast availability. My kids have breakfast and a snack before heading to the bus!
I truly love their focus with this. I sure wish more areas would focus on this!
Breakfast is an important start to the day. I always hate seeing kids go without it.
Love this! My children’s school provides all students breakfast for free. They are doing everything they can to ensure kids have the proper nutrition to be successful. It’s so important that kids are fed and ready to learn, but not every family is able to provide that.
I wish this can happen to all countries. Kids will learn a lot more when they’re not hungry in class.
Every child must have a nutritious breakfast. But in the majority of cases, we are struggling to provide them at least food – any food – to minimize the effects of hunger. My area has an amazing free breakfast program during school year and during every school break, including summer.
It is the local authorities plus politics of haves and have-nots that allow such thing, i.e. no free food for those who do not have means, to happen everywhere.
Grassroots and building awareness of this hunger issue in this country where 40% of food is trashed is a MUST-DO.
Thank you for this awesome post.
What a great idea! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for our children!
It is hard to think about having kids sit in class all morning hungry. I can’t imagine people having an issue with this.
Here in my small town no kid goes hungry at breakfast. If they don’t have the money, the cafeteria workers always made sure they had breakfast anyway. This is a great message to get out.
I hope this happens in our country too! Lots of students do not have food to eat. This will help them a lot!
I know that my state [FL] has an issue with this. I am glad awareness is being spread so we can help these kiddos.
As a mom of two breakfast is so important at schools for me! Thank you for sharing this!
What an awesome movement! This would help kids all over the country!
It’s such a novel idea.In our country India, all government sponsored schools serve Lunch to svscho children.
This is definitely a beautiful even that should be organized in every town. I would like to participate and support such kind of events. Our children are the future!
No kid such ever go hungry. The statistics are staggering. Breakfast helps fuel the child to having a more productive day.
Awesome! What a great cause!
I love the options of the different times and letting anyone get a free breakfast. That really helps remove stigma.
What a great event and project! My boys go without breakfast too often because they don’t want to get up early enough to have time to eat. We’re working on changing that but boy do they like their sleep! This sounds like a great initiative!
That Pier does look like such a fun place to visit. This place really looks amazing to visit!
This is absolutely outstanding! They need to do this all around the country especially during the holidays or right before summer break. Kids sometimes don’t get very little food int the summer. This would help so much.
This is such an amazing initiative and I hope it continues to grow
I really love this. There are so many kids out there who rely on school meals to get the food they need in a day.
This is so great. I remember I’d always skip breakfast because we’d be in a hurry then I’d be starving all day until lunch.