A pair of enthusiastic Hosmer Elementary School ambassadors showed two members of Congress around their school Wednesday, ending with a meal cooked up by the school cafeteria staff that featured produce grown in Watertown High School's hydroponic farm.
Congressman Jim McGovern and Congresswoman Katherine Clark visited Watertown as part of McGovern's End Hunger Now Tour of Massachusetts, in support of the bill he filed on Capitol Hill to increase the amount of federal funding for school breakfasts and lunches. Hosmer second-graders Maya and Daphne guided the two members of Congress through the hallways, into classrooms, through the media center, up and down stairs, and finally through the lunch line in the cafeteria.
Along the way they showed Clark and McGovern the carts which the visit before class starts to grab breakfast each morning. Brandon Rabbit, Watertown's Director of School Nutrition, said the Watertown Public Schools made some changes to encourage more students to eat the breakfasts.
"We were doing it before the school day, and we served about 10 breakfasts a day because it wasn't accessible," Rabbit said. "So, working with the Hosmer staff and then all the other elementary staff, we made it more accessible by stopping it before the school day and incorporating it (into the school day). Now they get the breakfast their breakfast from the carts when they come in, and then they eat it during their morning meeting. So everyone has access."
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