National CACFP Forum Celebrates 50 Years of the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Atlanta, GA, May 09, 2018 --(PR.com)-- The National CACFP Forum (the Forum) is leading the celebration of the Child and Adult Care Food Program’s 50th Birthday. On May 8, 1968, the CACFP was established to support feeding children in child care centers located in poor economic areas. In the last 50 years the program has grown to include family child care homes, afterschool/at-risk programs, for-profit centers servicing low income families, Head Start and Early Head Start, adult care centers, emergency and homeless shelters. Now serving 4.4 million children, most of which are from low-income families, and 130,000 elderly or disabled adults every day the Child and Adult Care Food Program is a vital program that supports healthy child development, school readiness and working families.

For the entire month of May, the Forum, is sponsoring the celebration of the CACFP’s successes over the last fifty years with an eye toward the next 50. The Forum’s website is full of resources for the community to use including birthday logos, ideas for celebrations, a birthday calendar, and a social media kit that includes graphics with CACFP facts to educate the public about the impact CACFP makes on the communities it serves.

“The CACFP 50th Birthday celebration is the perfect time to celebrate the hard work of the individuals who process the paperwork, make the nutritious meals, and serve them to the children and adults who need them,” says Samantha Marshall, Executive Director of the Forum. “It’s also an opportunity to thank the advocates and congress members who have and will continue to support the CACFP for years to come.”

The Forum is also taking this celebration to Capitol Hill to do just that – to celebrate with Congress the great work they’ve done to support the CACFP. A four foot mosaic 50th birthday card has been created with thousands of images collected from all over the CACFP community which the Forum will share with Congress providing a poignant visual of the community both at work and celebrating 50 years.

“We are so pleased to have our partners in celebration, Nemours Children’s Health System, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Food Research and Action Center, the National Farm to School Network, National Association for Family Child Care, and Lutheran Services Florida, taking part to support and talk about the CACFP 50th Birthday celebration,” states Susana Reza, the Forum Board President, “and with generous funding from the Child Care Food Program Roundtable, Minute Menu Systems and T&L Foundation for Child Care Information, we were able to take the celebration one step further.”

With most birthday celebrations a gift is given. The Forum’s gift to the community, to say “thank you” for all of their hard work is, during the month of May, a one year free membership to the National CACFP Forum.

The Forum invites the entire CACFP community to take a moment sign the National CACFP Birthday Card and celebrate 50 years of feeding children nutritious meals. For resources and ideas visit: http://www.cacfpforum.com/happy-birthday-cacfp.html