You are receiving this newsletter because you are enrolled in the WECA Food Program.

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Jan. 9: National Apricot Day

Read Apricot ABC (Miles, 1969) and enjoy apricots with your child care children.

Jan. 11: National Milk Day

Read It Looked Like Spilt Milk (Shaw, 1947,) The Milk Makers (Gibbons, 1985,) and Clarabelle: Making Milk and So Much More (Peterson, 2007)

Latoya in Milwaukee

Roceaira in Milwaukee

Deandra in Milwaukee

Cyleer in Milwaukee

Janay in Menasha

Traci in Wisconsin Rapids

We welcome you and celebrate this mark of professionalism!

5 years – Ashley Schuh; Bonnie Nonnemacher; Tracy Hood

10 years – Lisa Corton, Maria Hernandez

15 years – Felicia Williams

20 years – Jennifer Dobbs

30 years – Sandy Nichols, Terese Jenquin

We applaud and appreciate your long commitment to serving healthy meals and snacks to the children in your care!

The 2022-23 Food Program Provider Survey is here! Here’s your chance to let us know what you like, or share ways we might improve. Take a few moments to complete our annual survey: Your input is anonymous – and valuable! 

Question: Food Program SOS! I thought my last few payments were low, and this month I checked my Claim Summary. I was deducted for PO or RR not valid if Provider isn’t IE. What is this, and will you adjust it for me?

Answer: First, kudos for checking your Claim Summary! We need to remind you, though, that doing this monthly might have caught this problem early and prevented months of lost income.

PO or RR not valid if Provider isn’t IE means that one or more children were enrolled as your own child or related to you AND residing with you, and you have not submitted household income information that makes you eligible to be paid for their meals/snacks. If the children noted on the Claim Summary are NOT your own nor related, it means the parent clicked that box – inaccurately – during the enrollment process. Because providers are responsible for verifying the accuracy of all Food Program enrollments and submissions, this is considered provider error and cannot be adjusted. HOWEVER, we can correct this information in the database (and explain how to correct copies of your own records) so future deductions to your claims for this reason do not continue.

Going forward, check for this issue when parents complete enrollment forms, and contact the Food Program right away if you notice an error.

Parents Must Thoroughly Complete Child Enrollment Forms 

• Each parent or guardian must complete all the applicable information on the Child Enrollment Form for their child. 
• It is your responsibility to ensure all information is complete and correct before you submit any enrollment forms to the WECA Food Program. Incomplete or incorrect information is considered provider error and is not adjustable.
• If you notice an error, contact the Food Program right away to prevent further deductions to your claim. 
• Be sure to keep a copy of the completed enrollment form. 

Looking for something warm and soothing to serve on a cold January day? USDA shares this easy recipe for Chicken and Egg Noodle Soup that’s full of flavor and nutrition.

Remember: Canned, commercial chicken noodle soup can only credit on CACFP if it is (1) CN labeled or if the provider has (2) a Product Formulation Statement.

*From Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months (Sendak, 1962)

Resolved to Eat Healthier in 2023?

Feel as though you ate too much of the wrong things and too little of the right things during the holiday season? Did you make a resolution to eat better in 2023?

Consider your fiber intake! “Fiber is a broad term that encompasses several types of non-digestible carbohydrates that offer a diverse array of health benefits … including maintenance of a healthy gastrointestinal tract and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer.”

Fiber in foods – whether found there naturally or added – acts like a broom to help sweep unwanted material through the digestive track. Major sources of fiber in the U.S. food supply and our diets are grain products, vegetables, legumes, nuts, soy, and fruits. Meat and other animal products contain little or no fiber.

Most Americans consume about half the recommended amount of fiber. Females aged 19 to 50 years old should be getting 25 grams of fiber daily, males in that age group should be getting 38 grams, and children aged 4 to 8 should get 25 grams.

Higher intakes of fiber may help:

• reduce blood pressure and lower indicators of inflammation in the body
• correlate with lower body weight and body mass index (BMI)
• reduce the risk of certain types of cancers, including colon, breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer
• correlate with better control of glucose in the body – a dietary approach to help manage diabetes

So, Now What?

1. Gradually incorporate more fiber sources into your daily diet! Think whole grains breads and crackers and more – especially raw or lightly-cooked – fruits and vegetables. The bran in the wholegrain, and the edible skins (like those of apples, berries, and potatoes) and threads inside fruits and vegetables (think of the long fibers in celery or the whitish filaments in fresh orange segments) are rough and fibrous = roughage and fiber! Processing during manufacturing and even overcooking remove, strip, and destroy that natural fiber. (This is why even 100% fruit juice lacks the fiber of whole fruit.)
2. Increase your water intake! This will help move the fiber and waste through your system. Too little liquid and too much fiber will slow things down, which can result in bloating or other unpleasant gastrointestinal issues.
3. Make it a habit! If good fiber sources are not a part of your daily diet, start by planning one meal or snack each day, that is. Incorporate higher fiber foods that you and your child care children are likely to eat, and eat it with them! Do it for 30 days – at least! – so it becomes part of the rhythm of each day, part of the planning for shopping, and a successful part of your resolution to eat healthier in 2023.

This tool helps explain the changes to the Nutrition Facts Label. NOTE: The New label will show the calories and nutrients for ONE SERVING of the food. 

DPI Translated Forms

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has many Family Day Care Home forms available in Spanish and Hmong on its site.

Grain Ounce Equivalents

Wondering how many fish-shaped crackers to serve to each child at snack? This handy tool lists commonly-served grain products and their recommended serving sizes.

Does it LOOK like a dessert? Is it SHAPED like a dessert?

If either answer is yes, it’s a Grain Based Dessert!

And it’s … not creditable!

Vegetable Straws: Not a Fruit, Not a Veggie

Vegetable straws are processed food and may only be credited as a grain/bread when made with whole or enriched grain. If you serve them, you must keep the product’s Child Nutrition (CN) Label or manufacturer’s product analysis sheet (also called Product Formulation Statement) on file for review by your Area Coordinator.

Has your household grown larger? Has your household income decreased? Do you now receive a qualifying service such as FoodShare? If so, you may qualify to receive the higher, Tier One rates. You also may qualify to claim the residential children living in your home, if applicable. Applications and federal income guidelines are found in this resource under Financial.

Preparing for tax time? Download your Food Program earnings! Log into CACFP.Net. Under My CACFP info, select Checks Received:

Dan Eckhardt, Wisconsin Early Education Shared Services Network’s Financial Coordinator, has tips and food for thought.

New DCF licensing rules are projected to take effect in early 2023. Follow this link to the summary.

CACFP Portion Sizes for Children and Infants 

How much fruit and vegetable should you plate for a 4-year-old at lunch? Consult these handy resources for child and infant meal component serving sizes.

CACFP Infant Meal Pattern

CACFP Child Meal Pattern

Enrolling an Infant

You Must:

• Offer to supply an approved iron-fortified infant formula to each infant in care at no cost to parents.
• Select the formula name on the Parent/Provider Formula Agreement that you submit electronically with the enrollment for the infant.
• Offer to supply formula even if the infant now gets breast milk or if the parent now supplies the formula.

Be sure to keep a copy of the enrollment and Parent/Provider Formula Agreement with your Food Program records.

Claiming an Infant

You Must:

• Inform WECA whenever a parent supplies one meal component (solid or fluid) for an infant: On the CACFP.Net Main Menu page, click on One Infant Meal Component Provided by Parent. Complete the form and submit.
• Inform WECA if you serve different meal components to two or more developmentally ready infants in the same age category at the same meal service. Click on Infants of the Same Age fed Different Foods, complete the form, and submit.

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