WASHINGTON, April 23, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dora Rivas, SFNS, will discuss universal feeding programs during American School Food Service Association's (ASFSA) April online chat, scheduled for Thursday, April 26, from 4 to 5 p.m. EDT. Rivas, Director of Foodservice for Brownsville (TX) Independent School District, will share her experiences with the Provision 2 universal feeding program.
In an effort to reduce paperwork at the local level, Congress established alternative provisions under the National School Lunch Act for determining free and reduced-price eligibility and performing meal counts. These provisions alter the normal requirements for annual determinations of eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals, and for daily meal counts by type (free, reduced-price and paid meals) at the point of service.
Provision 2 reduces application burdens and simplifies meal counting and claiming procedures. It allows schools to establish claiming percentages and to serve all meals at no charge for a four-year period. Provision 2 has been an option for schools since 1980.
Provision 3 also reduces application burdens and meal counting and claiming procedures. It allows schools to simply receive the same level of federal cash and commodity assistance each year, with some adjustments, for a four-year period. Provision 3 has been an option for schools since 1995.
Since the 1993-1994 school year, Rivas has converted each of the 46 Brownsville schools to Provision 2 universal feeding programs. Since implementing the program, the district-wide lunch participation has increased to an impressive 87 percent (and 57 percent for breakfast). During the chat, Rivas will explain how she made the decision to convert to Provision 2, the challenges and obstacles she ran into, and the benefits her program has realized. Participants will also be given the opportunity to ask questions as well as voice their own experiences with universal feeding.
All ASFSA members and the general public are invited to participate in the chat. To participate, log on to the World Wide Web and go to ASFSA's home page at http://www.asfsa.org, Your Child Nutrition eSource, on the day of the chat. There will be instructions on the ASFSA home page for connecting to the chat. A transcript of the chat will be available through the Web site within three days as well.
ASFSA also has scheduled a chat for May 24, 2001, at 4 p.m. EDT, on "How to Handle a Difficult Employee." ASFSA will host chats every fourth Thursday of the month at 4 p.m. EST. In March, ASFSA.org hosted a chat on expanding school breakfast participation. The transcript for this chat is now available at http://www.asfsa.org.
ASFSA is a national, non-profit professional organization representing more than 58,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the country. Founded in 1946, ASFSA is the only association devoted exclusively to protecting and enhancing children's health and well-being through school meals and sound nutrition education.
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CONTACT: American School Food Service Association
Joseph Haas, ext. 122
Laura Hanley, ext. 116
(703) 739-3900