A little more than a year ago, the School Nutrition Association (SNA), in partnership with the farmer-founded National Dairy Council (NDC), launched the Made With School Lunch campaign. Its goal is to create awareness and effectively communicate the positive impact and benefits of nutrient-rich school meals, including milk and dairy foods.

At first glance, it may seem like an effort that seeks to state the obvious. After all, doesn’t everyone know school meals are nutritious? Unfortunately, that is not the case, as only 60% of students participate in the school lunch program, and good nutrition habits have sometimes taken a backseat to other interests. This takes on added urgency when you factor that 70% of the children who rely on school meals for a significant portion of their daily nutrition come from low-income families.

And make no mistake about the value of school milk to dairy farmers. School meals provide 77% of total dairy milk consumption daily for low-income children ages 5 to 18. Also, foods provided as part of school meals are the richest source of dairy in children’s diets, and children who participate in school meals consume more dairy milk, fruits and vegetables than non-participants, according to the USDA.

Yet, we have heard from school food service professionals who work tirelessly every day to feed 29 million U.S. students that they need help getting the word out about the importance of school meals. In addition to nourishing children, they are managing regulatory requirements and have little time or expertise in building a marketing program.

SNA certainly has the ability to help as the country’s largest association of school nutrition professionals with 50,000 members. SNA has been advancing the availability, quality and acceptance of school nutrition programs as an integral part of education since 1946. When you combine that with the more than 100-year legacy of NDC, we make for a pretty powerful combination with our efforts to impact the health of students.

While SNA leads promotion of Made With School Lunch, the campaign is co-branded with NDC and our team provides communication support and dairy nutrition expertise.

Made With School Lunch emphasizes video content, and we developed a social engagement kit that is easily shared with downloadable resources. The kit includes social media posts, posters in English and Spanish, a flagship video and a series of shorter videos for quick engagement opportunities.

The campaign highlights the long-term benefits of school lunches with a warm, engaging message paired with simple and memorable nutrition facts. The central narrative and imagery feature adults, symbolizing their future selves as children who benefited from school lunch programs. The content highlights dairy foods, such as milk, cheese and yogurt, along with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats that comprise a nutritious and delicious school lunch. The information will help engage administrators, teachers, parents, students and the broader community, encouraging them to learn more about and support school meal programs.

SNA launched Made With School Lunch in July 2023 at its annual national conference, which had 6,000 attendees. Since then, it has generated more than 54,000 views of the flagship video, 11,500 total webpage views and more than 9,600 individual resource downloads, including posters, videos and social media content. This response underscores the demand for information on school nutrition and the effectiveness of our outreach efforts.

NDC recently attended this year’s SNA annual national conference, which drew more than 7,000 people, including about 1,400 newcomers. It was evident how dedicated SNA is to Made With School Lunch with the organization’s CEO and president referencing it during their opening comments to attendees. Additionally, SNA ran advertisements on the marquee outside of the convention center and had a booth set up specifically for the campaign. NDC also promoted it at our booth, and we distributed Made With School Lunch T-shirts.

The success of this campaign has not only met our initial goals but establishes a strong foundation we can build upon. NDC and SNA remain committed to nurturing every child’s potential and emphasizing the essential role of school nutrition programs in fostering healthy, successful futures.

And that is also good for dairy farmers.

This article was written by Katie Bambacht, RDN, SNS, who is vice president of nutrition affairs for National Dairy Council. To learn more about your national dairy checkoff, visit our website or to reach us directly, send an email.