National School Lunch Week, 1999

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7237 of October 8, 1999

National School Lunch Week, 1999

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

For more than 50 years, the National School Lunch
Program has been at the forefront of our Nation's
effort to promote the health and well-being of our
children. Created to ensure that all children in our
Nation receive the nourishment they need to develop
into healthy and productive adults, the program
provides nutritious lunches to more than 26 million
children each day in 95,000 schools and residential
child care institutions across the country. For many
children, this free or reduced-price meal is often the
most nutritious meal of their day.

Equally important, the National School Lunch Program
provides our children with the fuel they need to remain
alert and attentive in the classroom. Common sense
tells us--and scientific research confirms--that a
hungry child cannot focus on learning and that a child
who does not eat properly is more likely to be sick and
absent from school. Day in and day out, school lunches
give our children the energy to learn today, while
helping them prepare for the challenges of the future.

An array of nutrition programs now supplements the
National School Lunch Program. Whether providing
schoolchildren with a good breakfast or a healthy
afternoon snack, the School Breakfast Program, the
Summer School Food Service Program, the Special Milk
Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program help
ensure that our children eat nutritious and healthy
meals throughout the day. As we observe this special
week, let us reaffirm the belief of President Harry
Truman, founder of the school lunch program, that
``Nothing is more important in our national life than
the welfare of our children, and proper nourishment
comes first in attaining this welfare.''

In recognition of the contributions of the National
School Lunch Program to the health, education, and
well-being of our Nation's children, the Congress, by
joint resolution of October 9, 1962 (Public Law 87-
780), has designated the week beginning on the second
Sunday in October of each year as ``National School
Lunch Week'' and has requested the President to issue a
proclamation in observance of this week.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 10
through October 16, 1999, as National School Lunch
Week. I call upon all Americans to recognize all those
individuals whose efforts contribute so much to the
success of our national child nutrition programs,
whether at the Federal, State, or local level.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fourth.