Kellogg Grants Help Increase School Breakfast Participation

By CnAgri Print

Breakfast time got a little brighter for more than 12,000 students during the 2011-2012 academic year. In partnership with Action for Healthy Kids -- a U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting childhood obesity, undernourishment and physical inactivity by helping schools become healthier places -- Kellogg provided $300,000 in grants to increase the number of children participating in breakfast programs at nine school districts in California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio.

"Fewer than half of the 19.4 million children eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast in our country actually take part in these programs," said Rob Bisceglie, chief executive officer, Action for Healthy Kids. "Support from companies like Kellogg is critical in countering this trend by providing funds that help train and empower volunteers to encourage students to take advantage of school breakfast programs."

"Studies have shown that eating breakfast may help children do better in school by improving memory, test grades, school attendance and more," said Kris Charles, vice president, global communications and philanthropy, Kellogg Company. "But for children living in food-insecure homes, breakfast can be hard to come by. As a leader in breakfast, we're committed to partnering with organizations like Action for Healthy Kids to support breakfast initiatives for children in need."

The $300,000 grant, awarded by Kellogg's Corporate Citizenship Fund, allowed Action for Healthy Kids to work collaboratively with school breakfast experts, school leaders, students, parents and community stakeholders to help ensure students receive a nutritious and balanced breakfast to start their day. As a result, participation in school breakfast programs increased by 41 percent across nine school districts, allowing 12,000 more students access to a healthy breakfast each school day in Fresno, Calif., Orange County, Fla., Chicago, Ill., Toledo, Ohio, and five other districts across rural Kentucky during the 2011-2012 academic year.

"Given our company's belief in the power of breakfast and its nutrition benefits, we direct many of our philanthropic efforts toward breakfast initiatives for children in need," said Charles. "Our ongoing partnership with Action for Healthy Kids is just one of many terrific organizations we work with worldwide to help ensure children eat a healthy breakfast in the morning."

Since 1998, the company has helped launch more than 500 "breakfast clubs" worldwide -- programs that provide morning meals to children in countries where government-sponsored breakfast programs do not exist. For more information about the company's breakfast initiatives, visit www.kelloggcompany.com.