PO Box 209

Venice, California

(310) 822-5410

www.foodsecurity.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS: Stephanie Larsen (202) 543-8602; steph@foodsecurity.org;

Thomas Forster (360) 421-3781; thomas@foodsecurity.org

Over 240 Organizations Ask Congress for $5 million to Help School Children and Family Farmers

Funding for “Farm to Cafeteria” Sought by National Group

          WASHINGTON, DC (March 13, 2006) – The Community Food Security Coalition announced today that 240 organizations from across the country have signed a letter requesting a $5 million appropriation from Congress for “Access to Local Foods and School Gardens,” Section 122 of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act.

          Better known as “Farm to Cafeteria,” funding for this program, which is authorized in the current Child Nutrition Act, would enable 50 to 100 lower income school districts to establish programs that will enable them to purchase food for their meal programs directly from local farmers. Funds may also be used to create school gardens and other “hands-on” nutrition education programs for children.

          “Childhood obesity rates are climbing dramatically and threaten to shorten the life spans of this generation of school children,” said Andy Fisher, executive director of the national non-profit Community Food Security Coalition. “We see time and again that when children connect the food they eat with the producers of that food, namely local farmers, they increase their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, a necessary and important link to preventing obesity.”

          But the benefits don’t stop there, noted Fisher, who said that “Farm to Cafeteria” programs open new markets for small and mid-size family farmers. “School kids win. Family farmers win. And farm communities win.”

-more-

          In response to the strong national support expressed for “Farm to Cafeteria,” Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) said, “Given the strong link between nutrition and academic performance, we must work to ensure that nutritious options are easily available to school children. Central to this effort is ‘Farm to Cafeteria,’ which provides children with additional opportunities to increase their fruit and vegetable consumption while giving our family farmers profitable new market outlets.”

          The 240 organizations that signed on to the letter requesting Congress to appropriate “Farm to Cafeteria” funds represent the depth and breadth of national support for this growing movement. The supporters include emergency food programs like the Food Bank of Central New York; faith-based organizations like the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; school food service groups like the Bend, Oregon School District; farmer organizations like the Rainbow Farmers Cooperative of Milwaukee and the Iowa Farmers Union; and garden organizations like the Oakhurst Community Garden Project of Decatur, Georgia.

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY COALITION

          The Community Food Security Coalition is a non-profit organization based in Venice, California. It is comprised of 325-member organizations. The Coalition’s mission is to help all Americans have enough nutritious and affordable food to achieve healthy and fulfilling lives. In addition to working to reduce hunger and food insecurity in the U.S., the Coalition promotes farming that protects the water and air while strengthening the economic viability of family and rural and urban communities.

###