In 2015, the state of Nevada passed legislation mandating that schools serve free breakfast during the school day if they have a large population of students from low-income families.
It was a watershed moment for No Kid Hungry, giving us a chance to step in and help schools banish hunger from their classrooms.
The gap between children who need breakfast and those who are actually receiving it is staggering. Three out of four teachers report seeing hungry students in their classrooms. Barriers like extra-early breakfast service or the stigma of being judged as poor mean that school breakfasts are only reaching a fraction of children who need them. Legislation like Nevada’s changes that.
In Nevada, No Kid Hungry works closely with Three Square, a highly-regarded regional food bank, to provide support and expertise directly in schools to make sure breakfast programs work.
"Breakfast was a new adventure for us,” said Dorian Stonebarger, programs director at Three Square. “We had never provided technical assistance outside of our food bank operations. No Kid Hungry helped us with that. They sent people to train us on tactics, how to meet with principals, how to talk to schools.”
But the work does not stop at schools administration and educators. Parents have to be aware that breakfast is available too. Together, No Kid Hungry and Three Square helped schools spread the word.
“Our best efforts were grassroots marketing school by school,” Stonebarger explained. “Whatever the school needed -- robocalls, flyers, banners -- however they needed us to market to the parents. We let parents know free school breakfast was happening at their local school. We explained their children could get their first meal of the day at school at no charge. These are all at-risk areas of town, we don’t know what kids are facing at home. This is one thing that we can take off their minds.”
