Healthy Hearts Breakfast Program
Duration of Program: Ongoing
Outcome: Improvement in School Performance
The Healthy Hearts Breakfast Program
The Healthy Hearts Breakfast Program
Our Healthy Hearts Breakfast program was developed based on crucial aspects of positive educational experiences. Students require nutritional food to focus and retain information that they learn while at school. It is important to note that hunger is not always linked to scarcity. Besides a shortage of resources and access to food, there are any number of reasons a child may not have breakfast, among them a long bus ride to school, a rushed morning routine, a shortage of healthy food at home, a lack of appetite when getting out of bed, extracurricular activities before school and family emergencies. School breakfast programs reduce the risk of hunger and improve nutrition while contributing to children's socioemotional wellness and mental health.
Breakfast and the Brain: How Eating Breakfast Impacts School Performance
Breakfast and the Brain: How Eating Breakfast Impacts School Performance
The claim that breakfast is the most important meal of the day has an abundance of sound science behind it. A brief compiled by the Food Research Journal outlines the correlation between breakfast and school performance among children, based on numerous research findings. The findings include how eating, and not eating, breakfast affects academics, brain function, and overall wellness. Children who do not eat breakfast at home or at school are less able to learn. Hunger can lead to lower math scores, attention problems, and behavior, emotional, and academic problems. Furthermore, studies show that children who are consistently or often hungry are more likely to repeat a grade. While it is true that students can chose not to eat, children themselves have reported a belief that eating breakfast increases their energy and ability to pay attention in class.
Providing breakfast at school can also ensure that children are getting enough to eat. Children who eat a complete breakfast have been shown to work faster and make fewer mistakes in math problems and to perform better on vocabulary tests than those who eat only a partial breakfast. They also show improved concentration, alertness, comprehension, memory and learning. Beyond academics, children who participate in school breakfast programs show decreased anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity. The breakfast offered can improve a child’s overall nutrition by providing her/him with necessary vitamins and minerals and can actually reduce the risk of obesity! Numerous studies show how students benefit from school lunch programs in the classroom and beyond.
These conditions play a predominant role in children's ability to stay focused in class and succeed academically. As part of our mission to help young people reach their highest potential, we provide healthy grab-and-go breakfasts for students in elementary school who may otherwise not have anything to eat each weekday morning. Dietary and allergen requirements are also taken into consideration. The organization of this program is arranged by staff and volunteers who bring the bagged breakfasts to schools that have students who would benefit from our Healthy Hearts Breakfast program. This program is also a method of connecting with our community and students who may need future help with pursuing their education.