TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS COME – GREETINGS:
 
WHEREAS: The School Breakfast Program plays a key role in ensuring that Arkansas students are healthy, active, and ready to learn every day so they can reach their full academic potential;
 
WHEREAS: School breakfast can lead to reduced food insecurity, improved student health, and better attendance and behavior in the classroom;
 
WHEREAS: According to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), 64.86 percent of Arkansas students struggling with hunger qualified for free or reduced priced meals in the 2023-2024 school year;
 
WHEREAS: Breakfast After the Bell programs, which make breakfast part of the school day, have been shown to be effective ways of ensuring more students realize the benefits of breakfast. Since Breakfast After the Bell programs were introduced in Arkansas schools in the 2011-2012 school year, the number of breakfast meals served to students increased by 7.3 million – more than 27 percent – by 2022, due in part to the implementation of school meal delivery best practices such as Breakfast in the Classroom, Second Chance Breakfast, and Grab and Go Breakfast; and
 
WHEREAS: Child nutrition workers across Arkansas continue to rise to the challenge, with many returning to tried and true Breakfast After the Bell meal delivery and menu options in order to serve healthy breakfasts to more students so they can start their day with the fuel they need to succeed.
 
NOW, THEREFORE, I, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, Governor of the State of Arkansas, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the State of Arkansas, do hereby proclaim March 2024 as

“ARKANSAS SCHOOL BREAKFAST MONTH”

 
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 20th day of February, in the year of our Lord 2024.