Studies show that children who eat breakfast do better in school and have healthier overall diets compared to children who skip breakfast.

Acknowledging the importance of school breakfast, the Dairy Council of California has teamed up with San Diego Chargers and the San Diego Unified School District Food Services Department to provide breakfast placemats to area schools participating in the Breakfast in the Classroom program. The newly launched BreakfastFirst Campaign is a three year initiative to help California's students reach their full potential and California's schools maximize available federal resources by strengthening school breakfast programs. The Fuel Up to Play 60 placemats were introduced earlier this month at Sherman Elementary School at the launch the state-wide BreakfastFirst Campaign.

The placemats feature San Diego Charger Luis Castillo and the USDA’s MyPyramid, and will be distributed to the 46 San Diego Unified School District elementary schools participating in this breakfast program. This placemat provides something fun and visual students can enjoy while eating breakfast in their classrooms.

The production of the placemats is a continuation of the partnership Dairy Council of California and San Diego Chargers formed in 2009 for the Fuel Up to Play 60 initiative, which provides nutrition education and physical activity programs and incentives to elementary and middle school-aged students for free.

“Fuel Up to Play 60 encourages children to make smart choices about nutrition and activity,” said Kimberley Layton, San Diego Chargers Director of Corporate and Community Relations. “Getting in the habit of having a healthy breakfast everyday leads to a more active lifestyle and is an important part of living a healthy life.”

Throughout California, more than 2.2 million low‐income students who are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals do not participate in the National School Breakfast Program. Sherman Elementary is an example of a school that successfully utilizes the program and the goal is to get more schools to follow.

Dairy Council of California