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Hunger Task Force joins MPS to launch “No Kid Hungry Wisconsin”
Hunger Task Force joins MPS to launch "No Kid Hungry Wisconsin"
MILWAUKEE -- It's a big step in ensuring students are ready to start the school day, a nutritious morning meal. 8,000 more Milwaukee Public School students are now able to eat breakfast in the classroom.
Hunger Task Force Joins MPS to launch "No Kid Hungry Wisconsin"
New technology at Milwaukee Public Schools will take breakfast out of the cafeteria and to the classroom.
"This way, everybody eats," said Sherrie Tussler, Executive Director of Hunger Task Force.
Nearly 83 percent of children in the Milwaukee Public School District qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch, yet only 37 percent are eating school breakfast. Often because of transportation issues or stigma.
"Poor kids would eat in the cafeteria, which would be less dignified than children who maybe were able to eat a home, because their parents could afford the food to make them breakfast," said Tussler.
To combat this problem, Hunger Task Force has partnered with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign to connect more kids in Milwaukee with the healthy food they need every day. This partnership will endow resources to 20 Milwaukee Public Schools to provide breakfast in the classroom in areas of highest poverty.
"This gives us the opportunity to take advantage of every instructional minute we have in school," said Darienne Driver, MPS Superintendent.
The grant pays for the tools needed to serve in the classroom.
"We have to have coolers, hot packs, things that bring it directly in the classroom. Through bringing it to the classroom, we can assure 100 percent of children attending that day are fed," said Tussler.
Hunger Task Force Joins MPS to launch "No Kid Hungry Wisconsin"
This grant will provide breakfast in the classroom to students at the elementary level all the way to the high school level at some schools in the district, but the ideas eventually, to get this to be district wide.
"Those students will see an increase in their test scores. Those students will be healthier," said Tussler.
Milwaukee Public Schools already has 83 schools that serve breakfast in the classroom. The grant expands that list by 20.