[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8519]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         BREAKFAST AT THE BELL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Donna 
Lombardi, the director of nutrition for the Worcester Public Schools in 
my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, for receiving the Healthy 
Start Leadership Award. This award is being presented by the EOS 
Foundation, a Massachusetts-based foundation that is committed to 
expanding universal free breakfasts in the classroom across the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
  I want to thank Donna for her tireless work at the Worcester Public 
Schools. She is a leader in our efforts to provide quality, nutritious 
meals to all kids in our school system. She recognizes the critical 
importance of not only providing nutritious meals to our kids, but also 
ensuring that every single child in our school system starts off the 
day with a healthy, nutritious meal.
  The breakfast at the bell plan, where every child would receive a 
nutritious meal in the classroom after school starts, is an important 
part of the schoolday and should be implemented in every school across 
this country. There are two important reasons why universal free 
breakfasts, or breakfast at the bell, is the right policy for every 
school to implement.
  First, we know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. 
Kids physically and mentally develop better when they eat healthy 
meals. That is a simple fact. But we also know that kids learn better 
on a full stomach than they do on empty ones. Hungry kids do not learn. 
And that breakfast each morning is as essential to their ability to 
learn as a textbook.
  Second, universal breakfast served at the beginning of school ensures 
that every kid gets to eat and not just the ones who get to school 
early. It removes a stigma that adults may not recognize but that 
children feel: it is that feeling that a child is different, that 
because they are poor, they need to come in early to get the food that 
they don't have at home.
  Donna Lombardi is a leader in breakfast at the bell, and I am proud 
of the fact that she is leading Worcester Public Schools in this 
direction, and I am proud to call her my friend.
  Now, unfortunately, not everyone is on the same page. Many school 
districts and employees are opposed to this idea. There are some who 
think that it is too onerous on schools, that it creates too much 
waste, and that it isn't a good use of time in the morning. I think 
those are shortsighted excuses, and I am dismayed that there are those 
who continue to cling to these notions that have been disproven time 
and time again. We know what works, and we know what doesn't work; and 
we know that breakfast at the bell is one of those policies and 
programs that works.
  I want to congratulate the EOS Foundation for its hard work and 
dedication on this issue.
  Most importantly, I want to say that Donna Lombardi is an incredible 
individual with the passion and talent for providing nutritionally 
balanced meals for the children of Worcester. Sadly, as in every 
community in our country, too many of our children go to bed hungry in 
Worcester. Donna has made it her mission to feed them, to reach them 
first thing in the morning with a nutritious school breakfast and 
throughout the day with school snacks, school lunch, after-school meal 
programs, and summer meals too--school by school, classroom by 
classroom, child by child. The magnitude of her impact on the lives of 
thousands of children inspires me and inspires all of us, and I am 
delighted to congratulate Donna on this much-deserved recognition.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would say to my colleagues, let us learn from 
Donna's example and replicate what works all over this country, and let 
us be inspired by those who work to end hunger in our country and make 
that our mission as well. We can end hunger now.

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