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The Nurturing Center sponsors The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) in Northwest Montana, covering Lake, Lincoln, Sanders and Flathead counties. It is a federal program that provides funding for nutritious meals and snacks to children while they are in child care.
To contact the Child and Adult Food Program in our office, call us at 406-756-1414 or email gayle@nurturingcenter.org.
Participating Child Care Providers Receive:
- Meal reimbursement
- Nutrition and physical activity training
- Child Care and administrative training
Eligible Child Care Providers include:
Eligible Early Care Professionals must have a current registration with the State of Montana's Early Childhood Services Bureau.
The Nurturing Center serves:
- Family child care facilities whose ratio = 1 adult to 6 children
- Group child care facilities whose ratio = 2 adults to 12 children
To maintain eligibility to receive benefits from this program, early care educators need 4 hours of annual training; 2 hours of annual training to update current regulations and 2 hours of nutrition or food safety training. Fort training dates, times and lacations, contact gayle@nurturingcenter.org.
Online claim services are available. To learn more about this process visit www.minutemenu.com
The Nurturing Center's CACFP Program does not serve Center based child care facilities. For information on Center CACFP benefits, call1-800-307-9333 The Nurturing Center does not serve Drop-In child care facilities as they are not eligible for registration or license in the State of Montana.
To view CACFP training schedule for summer 2008,
click 2008Trainings
The Child & Adult Food Program promotes:
- Optimally nutritious meal service
- Physical activity
- Healthy lifestyle choices
- Nutrition and food safety
The CACFP's commitment is to help improve the health of children and adults throughout Montana. To achieve this goal, the CACFP encourages child care providers to:
- Offer a wide variety of nutritious foods and beverages, for optimal growth and development;
- Serve iron fortified infant formula, milk with meals, and low-fat milk to appropriate age groups, providing calcium for development, growth and strong bones;
- Serve foods and meats low in fat, to reduce saturated and trans fats, and cholesterol intake;
- Choose and prepare foods with little salt or added sugar, to maintain a healthy body weight and reduce risk of chronic disease;
- Serve foods made with enriched or whole grains, to provide fiber and maintain a healthy body weight;
- Serve foods with, at least, 1 good source of vitamin A every other day, for healthy eyesight, skin, hair and brain development;
- Serve foods with, at least, 1 good source of vitamin C every day, as an antioxidant, aiding in the body's absorption of Iron;
- Serve foods with 3 to 4 good sources of Iron daily, to carry oxygen through the body, maintain energy levels and growth of cells.
For recipe ideas click on FoodPlansRecipeBook
For Infant/toddler nutritional needs click on Infant%20Meals
For The Nutritional Pyramid click on Inside the Pyramid
For Heart Healthy activities click on Tips for Raising Heart-Healthy, Active Children
Engage children in 60 minutes a day of regular physical activity, to promote overall health, psychological well-being and healthy body weight.
Visit CACFP for more information, call us at 406-756-1414 or email gayle@nurturingcenter.org.
Department of Public Health and Human Services
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
P.O. Box 202925
Helena, MT 59620-2925
Phone: 406-444-4347
Toll-free: 888-307-9333
Fax: 406-444-2547
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, the CACFP is prohibited is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability.
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 26-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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