With a major fight in Washington over providing meals to school kids and the standards for those meals, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand took the fight to a Buffalo classroom Monday.
While appearing in Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Children's Academy to pitch for expansion of summer meals and continuation of free breakfasts and lunches, Gillibrand also pitched for retaining standards on what has to be in those meals.
"We can't let Washington interfere with our kid's access to the nutrition they need to stay healthy," Gillibrand said.
"Congress has to reauthorize this bill by September or these standards will expire. If we let this happen, our kids could lose out on vital nutrition and the apple and grape growers of New York would lose a large part of their market."
Gillibrand says around 90 percent of schools now meet the standards for serving healthy food, something she says is always a struggle because even her six-year-old would prefer french fries to some healthier foods.
Her office says 1.7 million young New Yorkers receive free or reduced price school lunches but only a quarter of them have access to summer meals.
