Yesterday, Service Workers United cafeteria workers from across the country went to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress for stronger USDA Child Nutrition Programs. One member of the group was Marlon Taylor, a food service worker from suburban Illinois. Here, Marlon discusses why he loves his job working with kids and why it's important to improve the Child Nutrition Act.

Last year in the U.S., a record 20 million subsidized school lunches were served each day. In Illinois, Taylor's home state, there were 713,755 free or reduced-price lunches served during the 2007-2008 school year alone.

Earlier this month, the agriculture appropriations committees in both chambers of Congress agreed to spend an additional $13 billion this year on nutrition programs. However, exactly how much of that will be allocated towards improving the quality and nutritional value of the food served to children in public schools remains up in the air.

Congress is scheduled to take up the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act this fall--which is why now is the time to lend your voice to tell Congress we need an improved Child Nutrition Act: http://action.seiu.org/page/speakout/nutritionact