Food and Nutrition Service employees Jackie Garrett, right, and Angela Mathis, left, inquire about the price of grapes at a produce stand at the Dallas Farmers Market.
Dallas is home to a number of regional offices of federal agencies where we are all busy working to accomplish our various missions. Sometimes we get the opportunity to reach across departmental lines and work with our peers in other agencies. Recently, some of us walked right out of our office buildings and joined forces to promote a healthy lifestyle for federal employees. Read more »
As Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service, I know that our 15 nutrition assistance programs help a wide variety of people around the country. But there’s nothing like getting out of the office to personally witness the boots on the ground efforts by those who administer and promote our programs on a daily basis. I recently traveled to the FNS Southwest Regional Office in Dallas to meet federal and state personnel and partners and to tour several centers that make up the first line of defense in creating our nation’s safety net against hunger.
One place that I found particularly impressive during my travel was the Dallas Community Baby Café, sponsored by the City of Dallas WIC program. The Women Infants and Children or WIC program provides aid to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding mothers, and their children up to age five who are at nutritional risk. Conveniently co-located next to a WIC clinic that serves over six thousand participants a month, the café is the newest member of a family of 12 centers located around the United States. It provides a relaxed, non-clinical place for pregnant and breastfeeding moms to get advice about lactation from professional and certified consultants free of charge. Read more »
Like a broken street light, childhood hunger impacts the well-being of the community and will only be fixed when the local community recognizes it, takes an interest, and decides to address it. When those who care come together, pool their talents, and take advantage of available resources, things start to happen. Things get fixed.
The city of Dallas is getting serious about ending childhood hunger. Just a month after the October kick-off of the No Kid Hungry Texas campaign, local leaders came together for a hunger summit in Dallas in November. The diverse line-up of speakers was inspiring! There were leaders from Congress, all levels of government, faith-based organizations, food banks, non-profit organizations and schools. Every speaker was passionate and convincing about the need and ability to end childhood hunger. Read more »
Tags: Bill Ludwig, Dallas, FNS, National School Lunch Program, No Kid Hungry, School Breakfast Program, SNAP, Summer Food Service Program, Texas, Texas Hunger Initiative, WIC
Food and Nutrition
The over 670 veterans who attended the event received new shoes and other aid.
As a federal employee for USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, it is part of my job to know the many faces of hunger. People in need can come from all backgrounds, ages, locations, and walks of life. They are children. They are senior citizens. They are even those who are newly unemployed during our nation’s economic downturn. I knew all of this. But what caught me off guard was the fact that many are also our nation’s veterans. Read more »
USDA FNS employees promoted HealthierUS information to Latino families at the NFL/LULAC Feria de Salud on Jan. 30.
Now that time has started to heal the wounds of many Pittsburgh fans we thought it would be a good time to highlight some of the work we did around Super Bowl XLV. USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) staff got to participate in Fiesta de Salud (Celebration of Health) — a community fair sponsored by the League of United Latin American Citizen (LULAC) and the National Football League (NFL) in Dallas, Texas. Fiesta de Salud was one of many NFL events planned during the week leading up to Super Bowl XLV which helped promote the NFL’s anti-childhood obesity program “Play 60.” Read more »
Last week, Secretary Vilsack traveled to Dallas, Texas, home of Superbowl XLV, to meet with officials from the public and private sectors to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining a commitment to enacting healthy solutions to childhood obesity under Fuel Up to Play 60 .This partnership represents an unprecedented pledge to our kids to help get them moving toward physical fitness and health, a key element of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Read more »
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