Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.

A new partnership between a non-profit and the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) is ensuring that more LAUSD students can look forward to eating healthier breakfasts at school during the 2014-2015 academic year.

The partnership comes as an efforts to bolster School Fuel, an initiative launched by the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education (The LA Fund), which reduces the stigma of receiving free or discounted breakfast from federal programs by bringing free breakfasts to LAUSD students, regardless of income. Now, more than 360,000 students participate in the federally subsidized program – a jump of 200,000 in under three years.

“We are so grateful for this partnership with the Dodgers Foundation, and we know that their involvement will give students another reason to be excited about sharing a meal in their classroom community,” said Megan Chernin, CEO of the LA Fund.

To celebrate the partnership, Dodgers outfielder, Andre Ethier, surprised 6th grade students at Nightingale Middle School last week during their breakfast. As they ate, Either discussed fitness habits and the importance of reading nutrition labels, which now feature him and his fellow Dodger players Carl Crawford and Clayton Kershaw on the sides of milk cartons served in LA Unified schools.

As a follow up to the celebration, the Dodgers will present a $200,000 check to LA fund before the Dodgers vs. Red Sox game on June 16.