Fuel Up top Play60

It Starts with School Breakfast

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breakfast at school

As a kid, there was always food in the refrigerator for us to eat before school. My mom worked nights and usually didn’t get home before we were off to school, but she always made sure there was enough to eat. There was always milk in the fridge, cereal, pancakes, fruit of some kind, toast and probably some junk food too.

Having the usual breakfast foods around the house was something I took for granted as a kid. My family didn’t have a whole lot in comparison to today’s standards, but it was more than enough. And by enough, I mean I wasn’t one of the kids that went to the cafeteria before school started to eat breakfast with the poor kids. (That’s what we called the handful of kids that were on the free and reduced lunch program) No one was mean to them or anything like that; in fact most of them were my friends by the time we graduated high school. However we all know kids can be mean, especially in middle school; and every differentiating factor is a finger-pointing big deal.

Good thing the older we get the wiser we become, because I’ve learned that eating breakfast at school just may be the most important thing a student does at school! A recent study concluded that kids who eat breakfast and are physically active perform better on standardized tests, have fewer behavior issues at school and have increased memory and focus.

This week is National School Breakfast Week and the work being done by the National Dairy Council and Feeding America to address issues like Hunger and School Breakfast Initiatives is needed more now than ever. More parents are unemployed than in recent history which means more families are struggling to get by. The negative stigma of eating breakfast at school started a long time ago, and has manifested into an unfortunate reality. Kids, who eat breakfast at school or who participate in the free and reduced meal program, in many places, unfortunately feel like they are wearing a scarlet letter. They are pressured into embarrassment and made to feel as though they are different because they eat breakfast at school. Because they are hungry. In many instances, eating at school is the only place a child does eat.

Being the leaders off the field and true professionals they are, twenty-five NFL players are eating school breakfast this week in connection with the Fuel Up to Play 60 program to raise awareness and address this stereotype. We can do our part too by supporting school meal programs, considering a donation to your local food pantry and not pointing fingers at the hungry kids.

Start Spreading the News, It’s Super Bowl Week

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courtesy USA Today

courtesy USA Today

It’s Super Bowl week and the Big Apple is preparing for the Big Game. The debate about a cold weather Super Bowl has been discussed at length this week and depending on your views of the game, you may be in favor of the freezing temps since football is played in all conditions. On the contrary, the Super Bowl should be played in a controlled or at minimum, mild climate to heighten the level of play while eliminating inclement variables. Regardless of where you stand, the game is going to be played and a lot will be learned which may help make the case for future Super Bowl locations.

At the end of the day, there are 30 other teams this year and a bunch of retired players who never got the chance to play in a Super Bowl that would love to be playing this Sunday and they do not care how warm or cold the forecast is. What matters to them is getting that ring and accomplishing the ultimate NFL goal. The harder something is to attain and the more uncomfortable you are during the journey, typically the better the feeling and more rewarding the prize.

I’ve been fortunate to experience four Super Bowls during my time with the National Dairy Council and through our NFL program, Fuel Up to Play 60. This week will be my fifth. Although this year is a bit different than years past and I do not plan to attend the Game on Sunday, the experience and energy surrounding the Super Bowl is exhilarating and truly exciting. The NFL does a tremendous job of marketing the league, players, partners and sponsors this week. A walk around Times Square will surely widen your eyes and the parties and events associated with the Super Bowl will earn that Frank Sinatra coined phrase, the city that doesn’t sleep. New York is a great sports city and a marketing mecca. All the stars and fans will be out celebrating the culmination of a terrific NFL season this week and rightfully so. The NFL continues to get it right as the world will see the number one offense face the number one defense this Sunday during Super Bowl XLVIII.

So who is going to win?

As the old saying goes, “Defense Wins Championships.” If that were true, Seattle would have a slight advantage this week. But rules of the game are evolving and it’s becoming harder and harder to play defense in this league. In today’s game the offense, especially the quarterback position seems to have an advantage when all things are otherwise considered equal. Because the NFL wants to see scoring and points on the scoreboard, the rules have catered to a higher scoring game. I think that projects a slight advantage for Peyton Manning and the Broncos and believe Denver will win 27-23.

Fuel Up to Play60

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The new NFL logo went into use at the 2008 draft.

The new NFL logo went into use at the 2008 draft. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had the best day today. I met with a friend who works as a Physical Therapist for special needs students in a district near and much like my hometown.

For the past year the American Dairy Association has been after our goal of placing Fuel Up to Play60 kits in schools. A kit contains tools that a school can use as part of supporting a healthy lifestyle in their building. We accomplished our goal and have been a part of some wonderful events as a result. Somewhere in the hustle and balancing of grad school and work though, I lost touch with the part of my job that allows me to be a part of changing kid’s lives. I felt that emotion again today for the first time in a while and I was reminded again that God is good.

The topic of our conversation was Fuel Up to Play60, a program designed by the Dairy Council and the NFL to create healthy lifestyles in schools. A typical school meeting usually includes getting as many students as possible to sign the pledge and track their progress online because their school can win some great prizes if they win the competitions. But this meeting was different. This meeting was how the program could be used in a one-on-one teaching scenerio between my friend and the special kids she works with.

I’m proud of the success of Fuel Up to Play60 in Ohio but there is also something to be said for the people like my friend who are able to take this program and use it with special kids to improve their quality of life too. One of the boys my friend was telling me about was paralyzed in a car accident from his chest down but despite his challenges was still a pretty good athlete and a football fan. She believes he could compete in wheel chair sports if given the opportunity and feels the Fuel Up to Play60 program will be the ideal program to motivate him. I hope it is.

Our programs and brands can and will be talkable but the people who are talking about us is really what makes our programs and brands what they are. Consumers are the reasons we do what we do. They are ultimately the consumers of our passions. We owe it to them to be our best, to be honest, and to be what we say we are; even when the going gets tough. In return, we receive knowledge and understanding of who our consumers are, what they care about, and what they are passionate about. That seems like a pretty fair trade.