The Organizations Supporting Child Care and Getting Nutritious Meals to Kids

ROUND ROCK, TEXAS, USA, February 23, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- More than 138,000 child and adult care providers nationwide provide nutritious meals and snacks to those in their care through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). While the CACFP has many benefits for providers and those they serve, it can be challenging to successfully implement the program. An important support and significant resource for providers is their CACFP sponsoring organization. Hear from three outstanding CACFP sponsoring organizations about the work that they do with CACFP providers to ensure the children in their care receive nutritious meals: The Child Care Council of Suffolk, KidCare Nutrition Sponsor, and Providers Choice.

The Child Care Council of Suffolk (the Council) oversees over 270 family child care homes and group family child care homes throughout Suffolk County in Long Island, New York. The Council supports providers with the CACFP, but they are also committed to helping providers in every aspect of their business. The Council has an open-door policy and is in constant communication with providers to share resources and to check in with them. The Council also offers many training opportunities and considers the working hours of providers when creating and scheduling their trainings. The staff of the Council believe the CACFP is beneficial to all providers not only financially, but also by providing nutrition education. Christina Flythe, Director of Health and Nutrition, loves that the CACFP teaches providers to create a community of children who are learning healthy eating habits together, which they then take home to their families.

KidCare Nutrition oversees around 115 family child care homes in northeastern Colorado. KidCare builds great relationships with their providers by learning what providers are interested in, such as gardening or serving vegetarian meals, and providing resources to help them. KidCare is continuously sending new resources to their providers, including resources for the families that they serve and activity pages for the children to enjoy. KidCare also makes an effort to celebrate providers and showing appreciation for the work that they do. The staff at KidCare believe that the CACFP is beneficial to providers because the funds help them with their grocery bills, keep their prices low for parents, and serve higher quality food. Laura McCabe, Director of KidCare, is passionate about the program, because the end result is getting healthy, nutritious, balanced meals to children.

Providers Choice oversees about 90 child care centers and just under 3,000 family child care homes across Minnesota. Although the main goal of Providers Choice is to help providers with the CACFP, they also partner with other organizations in Minnesota to make sure child care providers have the resources they need to be successful. The staff at Providers Choice are dedicated to their work and advocate on behalf of children and providers. The staff recognize the importance of child nutrition and are working to expand access to the CACFP in Minnesota, with the belief that every child should have access to the program. Kate Abernathy, Chief Executive Officer, hopes that the CACFP becomes as well-known as school meal programs, because the CACFP is essential in getting healthy meals to children during the early years of development.

Each of these organizations are devoted to supporting child care providers and getting nutritious meals to children. Without sponsoring organizations, family child care providers would not have access to the financial reimbursement of the CACFP or the many other benefits of the program. Sponsoring organizations play a vital role in reducing food insecurity in their areas. Read more about the great work of the Child Care Council of Suffolk, KidCare Nutrition, and Providers Choice.

Since 1986, the National CACFP Sponsors Association (NCA) is the leading national organization for sponsors who administer the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). We provide education and support to thousands of members in the CACFP community and to sponsors of all sizes from across the country. We strive to improve communication between families, care givers, sponsors, and their supervising government agencies.

Jennifer Basey
National CACFP Sponsors Association
+1 512-850-8278
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