PEPPER PIKE, OHIO – A local school has received national recognition for making improvements to school nutrition efforts. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced that Gross Schechter Day School in Pepper Pike was selected to receive the Healthier U.S. School Challenge (HUSSC) award for expanding nutrition and physical activity opportunities. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and First Lady Michelle Obama sponsored the HUSSC to champion schools that voluntarily adopt USDA standards to improve nutritional meals.

“Gross Schechter Day School – a Healthier U.S. School Challenge honoree – is a leader in providing nutritious meals for its students,” Brown said. “School nutrition programs ensure that students not only get the healthy foods they need to perform well academically, but also help our children establish good eating habits so that they can live long and healthy lives.”

To view new USDA foods offered at schools during the upcoming academic year, click here.

Brown is a leading voice in the U.S. Congress for eradicating hunger and improving childhood nutrition. As Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition, and Family Farms he fought to pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This new law is aimed at ending childhood hunger, reducing childhood obesity, and improving school nutrition programs. One important provision in the law is Brown’s Hunger-Free Schools Act, which would help reduce paperwork and enroll already eligible students in childhood nutrition programs through direct certification.

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