Meals Plus Among the Record Number of Attendees at Legislative Action Conference
Earlier this month, Meals Plus Vice President Jeff Flynn (along with the newest member of the Meals Plus Family, Graham) attended the School Nutrition Association’s Legislative Action Conference. The event attracted a record number of people to Washington, D.C., where members of the school nutrition industry met with government officials to talk about the issues that are important to today’s school nutrition needs.
Graham at the Capitol Building at LAC 2012.
It was the 40th anniversary of the LAC, and Meals Plus was excited to be in attendance for the third straight year. Of course the most popular topic of conversation this year was the new USDA meal pattern requirements that will be implemented this fall. Child Nutrition Directors were eager to learn as much as they could on how to accommodate the new changes.
But that wasn’t the only topic of conversation that week. Leaders in the school nutrition industry urged Congress and the USDA to work with the Secretary of Agriculture to establish national laws on how to handle unpaid meals and managing the debt that schools are incurring as a result. Check out the official SNA press release here.
Jeff and Graham were able to meet with legislative representatives from North and South Carolina, and the week’s events wrapped up with a motivating roundtable discussion. Former Secretaries of Agriculture John Block and Dan Glickman and Former Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Charles Conner spoke to LAC attendees on the future of the school food service industry. They urged industry leaders to not underestimate the impact of their jobs, to look forward to the future, continue progressing overall and reach out to their Congressional representatives.
Overall, LAC 2012 was one of the most successful in its history, and we look forward to next year!
