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Monthly claims are due by the 15th of each month following the claim period. All claims entered in WINS and in OK to Pay status will process for payment at the end of the month. Here are some important reminders about claiming in the Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS):
General Claiming Reminders
- Monthly claim data must be in "OK to Pay" status by 5:00 pm PT on the 15th.
- WINS will automatically log all users out of the system on the 15th of each month at EXACTLY 5pm PT.
- Ensure to give yourself enough time to input all claiming data so the claim is in “OK to Pay” status.
- Once WINS closes down the claiming option users are not allowed to input claim data until after the monthly claim reconciliation process is complete. This can take up to two business days.
- Didn't submit your claim by the 15th? That's okay! File your monthly claim by the 60-day deadline.
- Example: The February 60-day claim deadline is April 29, 2021.
- Claim reimbursements that are not entered into WINS or not in OK to pay status will NOT process for payment by the end of the month.
- The 20-21 Claim Processing Dates Information Sheet takes weekends and holidays into consideration for the 60-day deadlines. You may want to print or bookmark this information.
- Refer to the Claims Reference Sheet for details on what to do if you don't submit your claims by the 60-day claim deadline.
- Errors must be resolved for claims to be paid. WINS has multiple edit checks to help resolve issues before your claim is submitted.
- Review the Claiming Error Messages in WINS Information Sheet for more details on possible errors.
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Common Errors
- Total Attendance is entered with the claim and is the sum of children in attendance each day during the month. Meals claimed in excess of Total Attendance will result in a claim error.
- WINS edit checks the number of approved operating days for each site to the number of operating days entered in the site claim. If these numbers don’t match, the claim will go into error status.
- Pro-Tip: Always select “Preview Errors” at the bottom of each site claim once information is entered.
Claiming Resources
Have Questions? Please contact Hydie Kidd, Fiscal Supervisor, or Pam Fravel, Fiscal Analyst.
CACFP Week is March 14-20! OSPI Child Nutrition encourages you to get the word out about your program!
What You Can Do
- Children can join in the celebration during CACFP Week with activity sheets that combine fun, food program information, and nutrition themes. Share these with your providers, center staff, afterschool programs and parents!
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Review the National CACFP Week webpage- discover tools for your community, ways to spread awareness for your programs, and so much more!
- Use the Community Outreach Flyer.
- Send the Certificate of Awesomeness to your staff.
- Distribute tools and resources at your organization
- Send information out in your newsletters, posts to social media, and get the word out early.
Discover more about National CACFP Week here!
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Lunch n’ Learn webinars are short, concise, high-level “power sessions” on specific CACFP-related topics. Most of the topics are based on sponsor suggestions and we will be presenting a different one each month through September!
Register Here
Date: Tuesday, March 30
Time: 1:30 – 2:00pm PT
This webinar is intended for sponsoring organizations who are conducting monitoring visits remotely. The USDA granted Nationwide Waiver #39 to allow for monitoring visits to be conducted off-site. Washington state was granted an additional monitoring waiver for FY21 with further flexibilities.
During this webinar we will discuss:
- Flexibilities allowed in the monitoring waivers granted by USDA
- Planning for off-site monitoring visits (announced/unannounced)
- Conducting off-site monitoring visits
- Follow up and completing the off-site monitoring visit
- Questions & Answers
During our last Lunch and Learn we discussed tools you could use to plan creative menus including culturally diverse foods.
Review the CACFP Creative and Multicultural Recipe Resources Handout for places to find new and exciting recipes!
We also want to clarify the Child Nutrition Recipe Box has ratings for their recipes, but not all have been rated yet so it would be helpful for them to receive feedback on the recipes you try!
Here is a sample one of the recipes we featured from the resources we shared:
Curry Vegetables
Add some kick to your veggies with this simple recipe for a curried side.
- 1/3 cup onion, peeled and chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 1/3 cup white potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/4"
- 1/3 cup tomatoes, canned, diced and drained
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup green beans, frozen, cut
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp curry powder
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Spray a small skillet with nonstick spray and heat on medium. Cook onions and potatoes for 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and water. Increase heat to medium-high and cook for 5 minutes. Remove lid and add green beans and seasonings. Cook until potatoes are fork tender, 5-7 minutes. Serve 1/4 cup.
Get the CACFP Recipe for 6, 25 or 50 Servings in English & Spanish
Children not able to attend in-person learning can attend the Boys and Girls Clubs of Spokane County.
The clubs typically offer an afterschool program. Now with schools only offering virtual school or hybrid models, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Spokane County are open all day. Not only are these children being offered a safe place to go all day; there is homework help, computers, activities and social interaction.
Studies show that a nutritious diet will make a child healthier and better able to learn. The clubs are meeting the children's nutritional needs by serving breakfast, lunch, snack and suppers to ensure children are getting healthy, nutritious meals throughout the day.
Way to go Boys and Girls Clubs of Spokane County! Thank you for all you do to operate successful Child Nutrition Programs. Your dedication to the nutrition, health and wellness is recognized by the Community Nutrition Programs team in celebration of CACFP Week.
Thank You!
Thank you for adapting and rising to the challenge to meet the needs of the children in your community. We appreciate all your hard work!
Shout out to ESD 113/Sound to Harbor Early Learning Programs
Over the past year, CACFP operators have seen many changes in their food service operation. We want to recognize ESD 113 for the trailblazing efforts by their child nutrition professionals. Serving Head Start children in a 100% remote teaching format, with door-to-door meal delivery service to ensure both children’s minds and bodies were fueled for success. When providing services, they focused on three areas:
Nutritional Support for Enrolled Children
- Delivered weekly meal kits that included 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 5 snacks with menus to each Head Start enrolled child.
- Looked for ways to keep costs down such as purchasing whole fruits and vegetables, buying in bulk, and developing the menu to provide variety while utilizing products on hand.
Food Security Support for Families
The pandemic has shown how fragile food security is and how often families rely on the meals served in schools and childcare to help stretch the budget at home. They realized they could not meet this need alone and reached out in their communities.
- Collaborated with the Hoquiam School District to provide meals through the Summer Food Service Program to the siblings of Head Start Enrolled children.
- Collaborated with Thurston County Food Bank by offering food boxes to any families who needed them.
- Worked with the food bank to ensure the boxes contained fresh fruits and vegetables. Every two weeks, bus drivers delivered roughly 1,200 pounds of food along with the regular delivery.
Nutrition Education Expansion
A key pillar in Head Start and Child Nutrition Programs is the ability to provide nutrition education in the school or childcare setting. Figuring out how to continue those services in a remote learning environment, although challenging, allowed the creativity of the Nutrition Service Team to rise to the challenge. The team worked with education professionals to embed monthly nutrition experiences in the curriculum, so every child had the opportunity to participate.
- Sent home ingredients to make homemade applesauce and produced a video showing children how to make it. Children often sent back pictures of their results.
- Introduced weekly “Community Lunch” where teachers ate lunch with children over Zoom.
- Sent “Try me Bite” item in the weekly meal kits.
“All of our staff looked for meaningful ways to pitch in with our food service efforts. Bus drivers, center directors, teachers, teacher assistants, facilities, and executive level leaders chipped in to make sure we were able to feed over 300 children weekly. It has been amazing teamwork.” - Patricia J. Barret, Food Service Coordinator
 Way to go ESD 113!
Thank you for all you do to operate successful Child Nutrition Programs. Your dedication to the nutrition, health and wellness is recognized by the Community Nutrition Programs team in celebration of CACFP Week.
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March 15
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February Claims Due in WINS
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March 30
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Lunch n' Learn: How to Conduct Remote Monitoring Visits
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April 1
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January Claim 60-day Deadline - if you haven't already, submit your January Claims!
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