[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 41 (Monday, October 13, 1997)]
[Pages 1546-1547]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7038--National School Lunch Week, 1997

October 10, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Each year during the month of October, we set aside a week to focus 
on the importance of the National School Lunch Program and its 
contributions to the health and well-being of America's schoolchildren. 
Through this program, established more than 50 years ago by President 
Truman, young people learn firsthand about healthful dietary habits and 
how to make wise choices regarding the foods they eat. And for millions 
of children, many of whom come from families in need, their school lunch 
is the most nutritious meal they will eat during the day.

[[Page 1547]]

    When President Kennedy proclaimed the first National School Lunch 
Week in 1963, some 68,000 schools were serving lunches to 16 million 
children each day. Today, the program is available in more than 94,000 
schools across the country, and 26 million students participate daily. 
This dramatic growth proves that the program continues to meet a 
significant need in local communities across the Nation, and its success 
admirably reflects the hard work and commitment of school food-service 
professionals, as well as the support and technical assistance provided 
by State administrators.
    The National School Lunch Program also reflects our profound concern 
for the well-being of our young people. By providing them with 
wholesome, nutritious meals day in and day out, we are helping to 
improve our children's overall health, increase their learning capacity, 
lengthen their attention span, and promote healthful dietary habits that 
will serve them well for a lifetime.
    All of these accomplishments are made possible by the many dedicated 
food-service professionals, administrators, educators, parents, business 
and community leaders, and other concerned individuals at the local, 
State, and Federal levels who work in partnership to ensure the 
effectiveness of the National School Lunch Program. We must strive to 
build on their achievements so that this vital program will continue to 
meet the needs of America's children into the next century.
    In recognition of the contributions of the National School Lunch 
Program to the nutritional well-being of children, the Congress by joint 
resolution of October 9, 1962 (Public Law No. 87-780), has designated 
the week beginning the second Sunday in October of each year as 
``National School Lunch Week'' and has requested the President to issue 
a proclamation in observance of that week.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim October 12 through October 18, 
1997, as National School Lunch Week. I call upon all Americans to 
recognize those individuals whose efforts contribute to the success of 
this program and to observe this week with appropriate programs and 
activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of 
October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 14, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
October 15.