Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 197 / Friday, October 13, 2017 / Presidential Documents 47945 

Proclamation 9654 of October 6, 2017 

National School Lunch Week, 2017 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

The health and well-being of our children is vital to the success of our 

Nation. When our Nation’s youth have their basic needs fulfilled, they 

can better focus on succeeding in school and in life. During National School 

Lunch Week, we recognize the benefits that school lunch programs offer 

to our communities and to our Nation’s future. 

The National School Lunch Program is a partnership between Federal, State, 

and local governments working together to facilitate the health and development of our Nation’s children. Since its inception more than 70 years ago, 

millions of students have received low-cost or free meals and learned lifelong healthy eating habits. Today, the National School Lunch Program serves 

more than 31 million students every school day, at nearly 100,000 schools 

and residential child-care institutions across our Nation. 

For many children, school lunch may be their most substantial meal of 

the day. Adequate nutrition is essential to a child’s mental, physical, and 

emotional well-being, and students who lack sufficient vitamins and minerals, such as iron, vitamin E, vitamin B, thiamine, iodine, and zinc, may 

suffer from inhibited cognitive functioning and a diminished ability to concentrate. Poor nutrition, especially from excess sugar consumption, may 

also lead to behavioral problems. School lunches, in addition to providing 

balanced nutrition, can teach students the relationship between nutrition 

and classroom performance. 

The Congress created the National School Lunch Act to, ‘‘safeguard the 

health and well-being of the Nation’s children.’’ More than seven decades 

later, dedicated Americans continue to work to ensure the nutritional health 

of our greatest treasure—our young people. During National School Lunch 

Week, we recognize the food service professionals, school administrators, 

community members, parents, and all those who dedicate themselves to 

the health of our schoolchildren. To emphasize the importance of the National School Lunch Program to our youth’s nutrition, the Congress, by 

joint resolution of October 9, 1962 (Public Law 87–780), as amended, has 

designated the week beginning on the second Sunday in October each year 

as ‘‘National School Lunch Week’’ and has requested the President to issue 

a proclamation in observance of this week. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 8 through 

October 14, 2017, as National School Lunch Week. I call upon all Americans 

to join the countless individuals who administer the National School Lunch 

Program in activities that support and promote awareness of the health 

and well-being of our Nation’s children. 


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47946 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 197 / Friday, October 13, 2017 / Presidential Documents 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of 

October, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22419 

Filed 10–12–17; 11:15 am] 

Billing code 3295–F8–P 


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