But school breakfasts can change all that. These wholesome morning meals provide a critical source of nutrition for kids, ensuring they feel better, learn more and grow up strong.
And studies show that school breakfast and student success go hand in hand. Kids who eat school breakfast do better academically, are more alert, and have better concentration and memory.
School nutrition teams in Dayton work hard to ensure that programs like Breakfast in the Classroom are available so every child can start each day with a healthy meal, energized and ready to learn.
This National School Breakfast Week, let’s celebrate the difference school breakfast is making for kids everywhere and the crucial role school nutrition professionals play in helping kids succeed. Feeding kids today adds up to a smart investment in the leaders of tomorrow.
- Ashley Roudebush, Manager of No Kid Hungry Ohio
In his Feb. 20 column, Armstrong Williams bemoans the singing of the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” that some claim is the Black national anthem. He says the performance of that song besmirched the “sacred American sport of football.” Football being “sacred” is arguable, but that is neither here nor there. What bothered me most in William’s OpEd is where he claims the U.S. national anthem is “an anthem made for all Americans regardless of race, color or creed”. That is the statement that is certainly argumentative. Does he really think it was for all Americans when, after putting their lives in jeopardy for this country that Black soldiers still faced segregated schools, lunch counters, bus seats. That required an act of congress 20 years after WWII. Does all Americans include the members of the LBGTQ+ community? Ask our Ohio legislators, ask President Trump, ask so many of the clergy. I think the answer to that is quite obvious. Also - the NAACP adopted “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as the Black anthem in 1917, fourteen years before “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
- Jack Rowlands, Englewood
Does Rep. Mike Turner despise his constituents? It sure seems that way. He just voted for a House budget plan that would rip away lifesaving Medicaid coverage for more than 200,000 people here in Turner’s Dayton-area congressional district. That same budget would also hike ACA health insurance premiums by hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. And it would kick more than 100,000 people — including kids, seniors, and veterans — off SNAP food assistance. Worst of all, Turner’s budget vote would take the money “saved” by these cruel cuts and shovel it right back into the pockets of the ultra-wealthy. In other words, the congressman is selling out the people he purports to serve. Here’s hoping voters remember his betrayal the next time he’s up for reelection.
- Caleb Cook, Xenia
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy started the Peace Corps, a new opportunity for Americans to serve both their country and the world. It was a call to make a difference through the power of human connection. Built on the idea that people, by sharing cultures and learning from one another, could advance world peace and friendship together.
I’m proud to be one of the many Returned Peace Corps Volunteers celebrating the organization’s 64th anniversary on March 1. Decisions made in Columbus or Washington, DC affect my family, friends, and neighbors — but so do events in places like Moldova, Rwanda, or Palau. We live in an interconnected world. What happens abroad impacts my community too. That’s why I joined the Peace Corps.
Through two-years of dedicated service, Peace Corps volunteers build friendship, mutual understanding, and American goodwill in communities around the world. Peace Corps service is one of our nation’s wisest investments for global peace and prosperity. Americans working with local counterparts to fight disease, end poverty, promote education, and spur economic growth creates shared stability for us all.
Let’s honor President Kennedy’s iconic call to serve by continuing to find ways to make a difference — at home and abroad. Consider becoming a Peace Corps volunteer. Advocate for strong funding to support its mission. Invest in your local community. Support our nation’s commitment to global development and humanitarian assistance. Together, we can keep building world peace and friendship.
- Shannon Reed, Hamilton
The loss of truth and compassion in the 2025 US government has caused one of the greatest cruelties to American families in generations. The lives of tens of thousands of middle income families upended because of a desperate need to show power and exact revenge is mean-spirited and unproductive. Increasing efficiency and effectiveness are often needed but to use that as an excuse to put parents and their children in chaos when the job could have been done in an ethical and humane way is a fraud. How do the people who make these decisions sleep at night when good civil servants, with no warning, are losing their livelihoods, their homes, and security that all people deserve? I wonder if the people who support this despicable action would be so happy if it were their son or granddaughter who was caught in this wickedness.
And beyond that to the millions of marginalized who will starve with the loss of the food our farmers grow and send to them, the loss to the farmers themselves, the loss of others who make this act of charity of the generous American people possible. It is an action of pure egotism and power grabbing, in direct opposition to the character of the country I have called my own for almost 80 years. From generosity to stinginess and isolation is an ugly road to travel and will have consequences of misery and diminished spirit for us all.
- Roberta Longfellow, Dayton
Interested in submitting a letter to the editor? Email your submission to edletter@coxinc.com.
What makes a good Letter to the Editor?
Our Letters to the Editor are generally collected and published once a week, based on the volume and quality of submissions we receive. Letters to the Editor are short, focused submissions that quickly address a single topic. They can run up to 250 words in length.
Letters to the Editor can respond to specific issues in stories we’ve reported, other contributed columns or syndicated columnists. They’re a quick and easy way to add your perspective to the discussion of any topic.
Learn more about how to get involved with our Ideas & Voices section.