Title
Calling on the United States Congress to renew the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act and preserve Philadelphia's Universal School Meals Program.
Body
WHEREAS, In 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act into law, which created a federal school lunch program devoted to protecting the health of children throughout the country; and
WHEREAS, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Child Nutrition Act into law in 1966, in part, to complement the existing school lunch program by creating a national school breakfast program; and
WHEREAS, These major pieces of legislation symbolized the importance of keeping children safe and adequately nourished with nutritious meals, along with other programs that followed such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC Program); and
WHEREAS, According to the Food Research and Action Center, the Child Nutrition Act is slated for reauthorization every five years and most recently, in 2004, the program increased the availability of nutritious food to after-school and child care programs, provided for simplified application processes, required higher nutritional quality for school meals and mandated that schools formulate local wellness policies; and
WHEREAS, Despite recent reforms and an increase in the variety of food programs, far too many children and families continue to live in hunger within the United States (U.S.); and
WHEREAS, In 2008, President Barack H. Obama announced a plan to combat domestic hunger by eliminating child hunger by 2015 through various anti-poverty and food assistance initiatives; and
WHEREAS, In Philadelphia one in three children rely on emergency food programs, according to the SHARE Food Program, Inc, who administers Pennsylvania's State Food Purchase Program and The Emergency Food Assistan...
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