Liz German is the vice-president of operations at YWCA McLean County, and she shares her experience utilizing the state subsidized food program in the childcare programs run at the YWCA.

Liz shares about how the regulations for the state subsidized food program make it difficult to provide the children in their childcare programs with fresh food. Essentially, they are not reimbursed for anything they get at local organic farms, leading them to have to buy produce at the stores. She has noticed that the regulations lead people to serve children foods that aren't healthy and lead to childhood obesity., especially when the kids are already eating a lot of processed foods from food banks and government assistance.

She also notes that the large amount of paperwork required for the state subsidized food program causes a large administrative burden and leads many childcare centers to drop out of the program.

Liz invites us to think about these regulations and how they can be changed to better serve our children and communities.