Last week, the USDA announced several waivers and flexibilities for CACFP. Of note is the following:

• At-risk afterschool care centers can claim all meals and snacks at the free rate regardless of their location.

• Day care homes can receive the Tier I reimbursement for all meals and snacks regardless of their location.

• Meal Pattern flexibilities which allow States to grant requests from program operators to waive the crediting of grains by ounce equivalents.

"We are able to provide the families in our area with quality child care, and at the same time, provide the children with the food and nutrition they need in order to grow and develop."

Make creating and serving standardized recipes a breeze with these handy conversion charts from the Institute of Child Nutrition.

During last week's national conference, we not only honored the annual Friend of CACFP, but also an inaugural Friend of SFSP. Congratulations and thank you to the 2021 Friend of CACFP, Congressman David Trone, and the 2021 Friend of SFSP, Senator John Boozman!

If you're looking for more Continuing Education, be sure to visit our Learning Center. With more than 75 hours of CEUs on offer, our extensive library of webinars has something for everybody! If you're looking for advice on virtual monitoring, consider this free Shop Talk with Denise Andrews, Gabriela Rangel, Annetta Rutland and Desi McKoy.

#ProvidersRock

#LongDaysShortYears

May Day, celebrated on the first day of May, is coming up this Saturday. If you're an NCA member, you have access to this free MayDay activity page, as well as many other holiday resources.

This is a great recipe to try out when your garden is ready to harvest! Add zucchini to an easy lasagna recipe for a hearty meal that provides 1 oz equivalent of meat alternate, 1/2 cup vegetable and 1/2 oz equivalent of grains.

Create a beautiful spring scene with this color-by-numbers activity page. You can also use the page to teach children about different types of flowers that they might see blooming in your area, such as tulips, daffodils or bellflowers.