Day care center provides nutritious meals for young children
By John Burton
RED BANK – With the assistance of the federal and state Departments of Agriculture the staff of Monmouth Cay Care Center ensures its young charges have healthy meals each day and learn about eating healthy for the rest of their lives.
Gov. Chris Christie proclaimed the week of March 13 in recognition of Child and Adult Care Food Program, a program that has for years benefited the Monmouth Day Care Center, 9 Drs. James Parker Blvd.
“It’s been very significant,” for the center, acknowledged Executive Director Heidi Zaentz.
Monmouth Day Care Center has enrolled 120 children from ages 2 months to 5-years-old. (The center also permits 6-year-olds to participate in its summer program.) The children receive breakfast, lunch and a snack during their eight-to-10-hour day at the West Side facility.
“Many of our children come from families that are often close to the poverty level,” Zaentz said, explaining the day care center provides nutritious meals that the children may be hard pressed to receive at home.
“For working families, that’s a blessing,” Zaentz observed.
In recognition of the program, started in 1968, representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state Department of Agriculture visited Monmouth Day Care Center, joining members of the staff as they provided lunch to the children—a meal consisting of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots and glasses of milk with fruit cocktail to round out the meal.
In addition to the food, resources from the program contribute to nutritional education, as children and their families learn about healthy diets.
“We’re trying to impact what they eat at a young age,” said Diana Limbacher, deputy regional administrator of food and nutrition services for the USDA, “forming what they eat in the future.”
The USDA funds the program, and the state department administers it. The Child and Adult Care Food Program was established in 1968. According to Zaentz, the day care facility receives approximately $100,000 annually for its food and nutrition education programs. Monmouth Day Care Center joined the Child and Adult Care Food Program in 1987.
The program, established in 1968, provides for New Jersey food to 85,593 eligible participants for 1,835 shelters, day care centers, family day care homes, afterschool programs and adult day care centers under the sponsorship of approximately 600 state institutions.
The USDA nationally provides facilities with meals and snacks to 3.5 million children and 116,000 elderly and disabled adults each day, according to the USDA.
