New Jersey Department of Agriculture and USDA officials marked Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Week with a visit to Wishing Well Adult Day Health Care Center in Mercer County. The visit showcased the meal program at the Lawrence Township facility, which serves about 220 adults daily in two shifts, five days a week. Morning clients receive breakfast, a morning snack, and lunch, while afternoon clients are provided with lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner.
“This location is an outstanding example of how the Child and Adult Care Food Program provides needed nourishment to thousands of New Jersey children and adults,” NJDA Assistant Secretary Joe Atchison III stated. “This program is a way for child and adult care centers and emergency shelters to offer nutritious meals so their constituents can develop or continue healthy eating patterns. We strongly encourage participation.”
Wishing Well received a CACFP Achievement Award from the USDA for its exemplary work. “Many of our clients depend on these meals and the services that we offer,” said Wishing Well Managing Director Michael Kravchenko. “CACFP greatly enhances our ability to serve healthy food to those in need and allows us to cater to the cultural dietary preferences of our clients.”
New Jersey's 2,200 CACFP sites provide meals and snacks to 106,000 eligible participants at various facilities each weekday. There are 642 CACFP sponsors in New Jersey. Although federally funded, the program is administered by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. A policy change allowed by state agency discretion within CACFP federal regulations has enabled CACFP Adult Day Care sponsors to include an additional $1 in daily snack meal reimbursement per participant.
National CACFP Week aims to raise awareness about how the program combats hunger by providing healthy foods for adults in day care as well as children in child care homes, centers, and afterschool feeding programs nationwide.
Across the country, child and adult day care providers participating in CACFP serve meals to 4.5 million children and adults each day.
For more information about New Jersey’s Child and Adult Care Food Program, visit http://bit.ly/1FwqWwB or call 609-984-1250.
