You are receiving this newsletter because you are enrolled in the WECA Food Program. |
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Your Monthly News & Updates |
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Staff News: Welcome Back Julie Giles |
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Hello! I’m happy to be back at WECA! I was an Area Coordinator for the Food Program for many years, and now I’m taking over some of Rita Schmidt’s former duties in the office. It is a welcome new challenge! I dovetail my time at WECA by providing childcare in my home. I currently care for the children of the first child I ever enrolled, so I have come full circle with this family.
In my spare time, you might find me climbing a wall at Adventure Rock, spending time with my adult daughters or my friends, or knitting and watching a movie. I love camping and traveling, and the most interesting and far-flung of my travels involved my living in Zambia with my daughter for almost a year. I am, however, equally content snuggled up with my cat, Mica, in the evening, sipping tea. -Julie Giles
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National Days This September |
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Tuesday, September 7th is National Acorn Squash Day. Celebrate by reading Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash (Weeks, 2000) to the children in your care.
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Sunday, September 26th is National Pancake Day. Consider sharing these two books with your class Pancakes for Breakfast (dePaola, 1978) and Pancakes, Pancakes! (Carle, 1990). |
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Let's Cook! Wee Chefs - Big Results!
by Julie Giles, WECA Food Program Specialist
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My child care children and I enjoy cooking together and do it routinely. Our most recent cooking experience was making Honey Lime Chicken.
For those of you who have not done much (or any!) cooking with the children, here are a few words of encouragement:

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Cooking is science. Scientists learn as much from their failures as from their successes. If what you cook that day is a failure, you won’t choose to make it again! Because cooking is science, whether the end result is tasty and earns the children’s rave reviews (because that happens so often at mealtime!) or not, the activity itself is immensely valuable. It is a hands-on illustration of measurement, counting, sequencing, cause and effect, and change.
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Consider the appropriateness of the recipe and how the food is made. For example, allowing my two-year-old and four-year-old child care children to handle raw chicken would have been a poor judgment on my part. Reading the recipe, helping to measure and add the ingredients, and whisking the ingredients of the marinade are all safe, interesting, and fun experiences. Watching as I submerge the cleaned chicken thighs in the marinade, because “the chicken needs to swim in the sauce for a while before we cook it,” is appropriate for the ages of the children in my care.
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Let go of expectations. Not all children will choose to cook. It is definite that not all children will eat what they help to cook.
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Talk while you are cooking. “Remind me: What ingredients did we add?” “If you and your brother both added a tablespoon of honey, how much honey did we add?”
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Talk while you are eating – and be sure to eat with the children. “What do you think?” “Should we make this again?” “What did you like best?”
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Arlo's verdict: "It tastes like chicken!"
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​Only 100% fruit or vegetable juice is creditable on the food program. You must choose your juice from the list of foods on the left side of your CACFP.Net online menu page, so the program can keep track of how many times you serve juice each day.

A creditable juice product will state Juice: Full-strength juice; single-strength juice; 100% juice; and reconstituted juice; juice from concentrate or juice concentrate. Items named cocktail, beverage or drink are not 100% juice and are not creditable.
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Per USDA meal pattern requirements:
- Juice is not creditable for infants.
- You may serve juice once per day, per family child care home to children one year and up.
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Your Obligation at a Home Visit
When you signed the Food Program Sponsor/Provider Agreement, you agreed to allow representatives from WECA, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), and/or USDA to make announced and unannounced visits to your family child care home at any time during your hours of operation. They may review your meal service and food program records at any time during your hours of operation.
When these representatives arrive for a home visit and you’re open (whether children are present or not), your menus and meal counts must be available for their review. Menus and meal counts must be up to date through the end of the previous business day and must be recorded online or on WECA paper forms. Your State attendance records cannot be substituted for meal counts.
If your child care is closed due to illness, no meals will be reimbursed for that day. Your visit will be completed on another day.
Refusing a visit – whether it is conducted in-person or by phone – may be grounds for termination from the Food Program.
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Income Eligibility
Pre-Enroll New Children in CACFP.Net
If you pre-enroll new children online, you can claim them right away! You must submit a properly completed child enrollment form for that child immediately, so you will be paid correctly when your claim is processed.
Log in to CACFP.Net and select My CACFP Info on the menu bar; then click on Children. At the bottom of your list of children on the left side of the page, click on Pre-Enroll a Child.
A new screen will open. The program will assign you an available ID number that you will use to claim the child.
- Enter this same ID number on the child’s enrollment form that you submit to the WECA Food Program office.
- Enter the child’s information, be sure it is correct, and then click on Enter. You can now begin to claim the child.
- Submit the child enrollment form right away so your claim will process correctly.
Effective August 1, 2021, pre-enrolled children will be archived after 60 days if they have not been enrolled in CACFP.Net.
Parent/Guardian Must Complete Child Enrollment Form Thoroughly
- Each parent or guardian must thoroughly complete the enrollment form for his or her child.
Before you submit any enrollment forms to the office, it’s your responsibility to be sure all the information is complete and correct, including the parent's signature date and the child’s start date.
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New Food Program Reimbursement Rates |
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Don’t forget! All providers will receive the higher tier one rates through 6/30/22, due to the special United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Waiver of Area Eligibility in effect through that date.
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Updated WIC Information and Income Eligibility Guidelines
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Food Program Direct Deposit Date Hotline |
Dial 1-800-783-9322
- For English, press 1
- Para español, presione 2
- For the Food Program, press 2
- Para el Programa de Alimentos presione 1
- For the check mailing date, press 1
- Para la fecha del cheque / depĂłsito directo, presione 2
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Registration is now open for the 2021 WECA Virtual Conference!
The 2021 Virtual Conference will be on a new dynamic platform and will include some incredible live keynote sessions with a variety of live and recorded workshops. New this year, we will also have some exciting features to give you ways in which to interact with educators from across the state, along with some ways to connect with exhibitors!
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The Provider Connection is published by the WECA Food Program Claims Director: Pam Polenz
Provider Connection Editor: Julie Giles Questions: Call 608-240-9880 or visit our website.
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This institution is an equal opportunity provider |
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Explore more of what WECA has to offer:
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