Diabetes, Child Nutrition, And Advocacy

Last Wednesday was Diabetes Awareness Day at St. Anthony Foundation’s Free Medical Clinic. As St. Anthony Foundation’s Advocacy Coordinator, I was front and center at Diabetes Awareness Day with our doctors, nurses, and medical assistants. Most diabetes awareness events do not include an advocacy component, but here at St. Anthony’s we know that health and nutrition are closely connected, so I took the opportunity to give our Diabetes Day participants a chance to advocate for child nutrition programs.

Programs like the School Breakfast and School Lunch Programs, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) not only provide low-income children with a basic necessity, they help promote nutrition and healthy eating and prevent disease. Unfortunately, the nation’s economic crisis has led more families than ever to turn to federal nutrition programs for help.

Diabetes Day was a great venue to give our guests the opportunity to advocate for child nutrition programs. It was an exciting day because our guests were so happy to be given the opportunity to care of their own health by having their blood sugar and body mass index tested. I was especially excited that our guests took the time to advocate for the health of low-income children across the country by signing a letter to President Obama asking him to fully fund child nutrition programs in next year’s budget!

If you’d like to learn more about why child nutrition and WIC reauthorization is an important issue for Californians, check out this fact sheet from our friends at California Food Policy Advocates. If you’d like to get involved in advocacy for programs that help end hunger and promote nutrition, email Colleen Rivecca, St. Anthony Foundation Advocacy Coordinator, at crivecca@stanthonysf.org