Statement of Ms. Pearl DeMart, Texas food-service worker, at the USDA listening session in Austin, Texas. July 15, 2008

My name is Pearl DeMart and I am here today on behalf of Houston's Head Start food service workers and the Campaign for Quality Services.

Like Ms. Ray [previous speaker], I am here to call for a greater investment in child nutrition programs. I am also here to make clear that food service workers care about nutrition and have an important role to play in improving school meal programs

I am a cook at the Wesley Square Head Start facility and I have worked for Head Start for the past 10 years.

Everyone knows that kids learn better when they get good breakfasts and lunches. But for many of the children I see every day, the meals they eat at Wesley Square are what keep them from going hungry.

This is why I always try to serve a heavy meal on Fridays and Mondays. Some of the kids who come in Monday morning, they are so hungry. I watch them eat, and I know which ones are eating well when they are away from Head Start and which ones aren't. I think if they eat well Friday, it will be easier for them to make it over the weekend.

There was one child who used to come through my line, he always wanted to give me a dime. I'd ask him what it was for and he'd say to buy more food. I would give it back to his grandmother at the end of the day when she picked him up and she told me he would ask for a dime every morning so he could give it to me to buy more groceries - I always thought it was sort of cute how concerned he was about making sure the food would be there. But I think it also shows how important these meals are to these children.

Under the new USDA guidelines, there have been cut backs in the size of portions. I understand why this decision was made - many children are overweight - but some kids are coming to school very hungry. I think we need to take this into account when considering portion sizes. What might be the right amount for one child, may not work for all of them.

I am happy to say that I think our kids do have a chance to eat healthy meals at Wesley Squarer, we serve plenty of fresh fruit. But I think sometimes the breakfasts are light, sometimes we serve only a cereal bar and fruit. I feel the children should get a hot breakfast every morning - they will do better and learn more when they have a chance to eat something hot.

I think we also need more training in nutrition, health, childhood diseases and food safety. Quite a few of the kids I serve are on special diets and we really have to know what they can and can't eat. We do need specialists to come and train us on how to best serve these kids.

That way we could learn more about how to serve special foods to the students who can't eat the regular meals. I also think that if we had the tools and the right training, we would be able to help promote better nutrition and could better support parents and teachers in helping improve these children's eating habits.

And like Ms Ray, I also think that everyone working in the Head Start cafeterias - not just the cooks - needs to be trained. We do think about food safety. If I have a doctor's appointment or can't make it in one day, it can't just be anyone who comes into the kitchen - they need to be certified -- the person next in line to me should know what to do if I am not able to be there.

I have one final suggestion: I think it might be a good idea to create Head Start facilities that cater to the children with special dietary needs. From experience, I can tell you that cooking for both the special needs children as well as preparing standard meals, it is very easy to make a mistake - it would be better if the kitchen staff was able to focus completely on the special dietary needs of some of these children.

Thank-you for this opportunity to discuss the Head Start meals. I am looking forward to working with the USDA to make improvements to this extremely important program.