For People in the DC area
Just a little something that went out to my job today and something that I think is a touch important.
As you know, the DC Council recently passed the DC Healthy Schools Act that would substantially expand access to school breakfast, improve the quality of school meals, increase the amount of fruits and vegetables served in school, triple the amount of physical and health education, and expand wellness initiatives.
The Act was supposed to be funded by a 1 cent-per-ounce tax to sugar sweetened beverages (does not include diet soda, juice, milk, water). The soda tax would be imposed on distributors - NOT small, local businesses and would not apply to concentrated syrup, which is primarily sold to restaurants and bars. Coke, Pepsico and Dr. Pepper-Snapple are aggressively fighting this tax and have launched a $4.5 million campaign to defeat it.
In 2008-2009, over 40 percent of D.C. households with children said that they had difficulty affording food. And last year, the DC Health Department found that 43% of students enrolled in city public schools were overweight or obese - one of the highest rates in the nation. The DC Healthy Schools Act would take a major step forward in addressing both hunger and obesity among our most vulnerable children. Let’s make sure we can fund it!
If you are a DC resident and are concerned about the rate of obesity and hunger among DC children, please consider signing this petition at www.supporthealthyschools.org and forwarding this email to 10 of your friends.
You can also write a letter to DC City Council at http://action.earthday.net/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3901
As you know, the DC Council recently passed the DC Healthy Schools Act that would substantially expand access to school breakfast, improve the quality of school meals, increase the amount of fruits and vegetables served in school, triple the amount of physical and health education, and expand wellness initiatives.
The Act was supposed to be funded by a 1 cent-per-ounce tax to sugar sweetened beverages (does not include diet soda, juice, milk, water). The soda tax would be imposed on distributors - NOT small, local businesses and would not apply to concentrated syrup, which is primarily sold to restaurants and bars. Coke, Pepsico and Dr. Pepper-Snapple are aggressively fighting this tax and have launched a $4.5 million campaign to defeat it.
In 2008-2009, over 40 percent of D.C. households with children said that they had difficulty affording food. And last year, the DC Health Department found that 43% of students enrolled in city public schools were overweight or obese - one of the highest rates in the nation. The DC Healthy Schools Act would take a major step forward in addressing both hunger and obesity among our most vulnerable children. Let’s make sure we can fund it!
If you are a DC resident and are concerned about the rate of obesity and hunger among DC children, please consider signing this petition at www.supporthealthyschools.org and forwarding this email to 10 of your friends.
You can also write a letter to DC City Council at http://action.earthday.net/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3901