School lunch shaming is a practice where students are publicly humiliated for not having enough money to buy lunch. And it happens in a variety of ways. Some schools stamp students’ hands with the words, “I need lunch money,” as happened recently in Alabama. Or they take away hot, nutritious meals from students and give them sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches instead, as seen in one district in Rhode Island. School administrators have even sent debt collectors after families with overdrawn lunch accounts. It’s a practice that stigmatizes children and largely impacts marginalized populations.
Nonprofit leaders, school activists and government officials are working to end lunch shaming. A school cafeteria worker quit her job after being forced to throw away a first grader’s lunch because he didn’t have money to pay for it. Her story inspired legislators in Pennsylvania to ban lunch shaming.
Another approach to ending lunch shaming is through the government program called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). By adopting CEP, schools in high poverty areas can opt for the entire student body to receive free breakfast and lunch. This way, kids don’t go into debt and cannot be shamed.
Watch the video to learn more about lunch shaming and how some people are working to end it.
More: School Lunches Still Aren’t Delicious or Nutritious. That Has to Change
Tag: school lunch
The Surprising Story Behind One School’s Healthy Lunch Program, The Best Way to Reach Your Reps and More
Revenge of the Lunch Lady, The Huffington Post Highline
In a country where cheap mass-produced food is king and pizza counts as a vegetable, healthy lunches for kids can be hard to come by. But a recent revamp of school fare in Huntington, W.V., previously designated as the nation’s unhealthiest city, provides a hopeful model. There, an enterprising employee managed to implement a healthy lunch program, starring locally grown produce, while maintaining the district’s minuscule $1.50-per-meal budget.
Getting a Busy Signal When You Call Congress? Here’s How to Get Through, The Christian Science Monitor
Since President Trump’s inauguration last month, there’s been a surge in citizens reaching out to Congress, but not all forms of communication are equally effective. If you really want your voice heard, say experts, try meeting with your representative in person, writing a personal letter and focusing on policy rather than cabinet picks.
The Compost King of New York, The New York Times
New York City alone generates 1 million tons of organic waste per year, but a new plant on Long Island will process this waste into both fertilizer and clean energy, generating significant returns. This new large-scale industrial waste processing is both more environmentally friendly and more profitable than traditional composting, and could revolutionize American energy.
Continue reading “The Surprising Story Behind One School’s Healthy Lunch Program, The Best Way to Reach Your Reps and More”
Should Schoolchildren Play First and Eat Second?
In the fight against childhood obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama spearheaded the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that requires schools to serve more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
The idea is great. Its execution? Not so much. Reports found that despite federal law, many elementary school students (up to 70 percent) end up throwing most of this produce away to the tune of $3.8 million in wasted costs. The reason? Kids who are picky eaters would rather go hungry than eat broccoli.
However, a new study from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., found a solution to get kids to actually eat healthy, and it all comes down to scheduling.
The idea is that these youngsters will eat more — and more healthfully — if they work up an appetite first. And there’s a simple, cost-free way that schools can do this: switch up recess and lunch.
MORE: This State Is Making Sure No Child Is Ever Denied a School Lunch
As EcoWatch notes, most schools in America schedule lunch before recess thinking that the kids can use the free time to burn off their meals. But as it happens, since students so excited about getting to play, many just end up trashing their food.
“Recess is a pretty big deal to kids,” Joseph Price, BYU associate professor and the study’s lead author, tells the Salt Lake City Tribune. “So if you make them choose between recess and vegetables, recess is going to win.”
For the study, researchers observed seven elementary school cafeterias in Orem, Utah. Four schools had lunch first, and three schools experimented with recess first. “After analyzing a total of 22,939 observations the researchers concluded that in the schools that switched recess to before lunch children ate 54 percent more fruits and vegetables,” a news release says. “There was also a 45 percent increase in those eating at least one serving of fruits and vegetables. During the same time period consumption of fruits and vegetables actually decreased in the schools that didn’t switch.”
It makes a lot of sense. By making sure kids jump, swing and run around on the playground first, they’ll be hungry enough to eat anything. Even broccoli.
In These 8 States, Students Are Going to Be Served Healthier School Lunches
A new pilot program aimed at encouraging states to purchase locally-sourced food will bring more fresh produce to school meals across eight states.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced California, Connecticut, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin will be able to use some of their USDA Foods allocation toward unprocessed fruits and vegetables from local farms rather than going through the USDA Foods program.
The Pilot Project for Procurement of Unprocessed Fruits and Vegetables, which falls under the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm Bill), was created to not only promote farm-to-table meals, but also help schools strengthen relationships with vendors, growers, wholesalers and distributors, according to the USDA.
USDA Foods comprises about 20 percent of foods served in schools, with schools using their allocation from a list of 180 items including fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, rice, low fat cheese, beans, pasta, flour and other whole grain products. Under the new program, schools will be able to substitute those allocations for fresher, local options.
“Providing pilot states with more flexibility in the use of their USDA Foods’ dollars offers states another opportunity to provide schoolchildren with additional fruits and vegetables from within their own communities,” says Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. “When schools invest food dollars into local communities, all of agriculture benefits, including local farmers, ranchers, fishermen, food processors and manufacturers.”
States were selected on criteria including a commitment to farm-to-school efforts, previous promotion initiatives, the variety and abundance of fruit and vegetable growers in the state on a per capita basis, as well as how diverse the state’s educational agencies are in size and geography.
For states like Connecticut, the program not only promotes the local economy, but also helps children form more nutritional habits of buying fresh, local produce.
“Connecticut’s participation in this federal pilot is great news for our farmers, our economy and our children,” says Governor Dannel P. Malloy. “Our state is home to thousands of farming operations responsible for billions in economic activity. By increasing the amount locally-sourced healthy food options for our students, we help lay a foundation for lifelong successful habits.”
MORE: The District Where Healthy School Lunches Are Actually Succeeding
The District Where Healthy School Lunches Are Actually Succeeding
School lunches are healthier than ever under First Lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Federal law now requires schools to serve more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as cut down on food that’s high in calories, fat and sodium.
The new school lunch standard is wonderful in the fight against childhood obesity. However, its actual implementation has been fraught with controversy. School lunch companies are complaining that the tough nutritional guidelines are too rigid and claiming that they’re causing a steep loss in revenue. Picky eaters are also revolting about the taste of their foods, and many just end up going hungry when they throw whole trays of food away.
But there’s one school district where kids are actually eating — and even enjoying their meals.
MORE: Celebrity Chefs Urge New York City to Provide Free School Lunch for Every Student
As the Atlantic reports, the Lincoln Public School System (LPS) in Lincoln, Nebraska “has gone above and beyond the legal requirements, dishing out a daily vegetable smorgasbord. On top of veggie burgers and black-bean chili, the school system serves up local yellow watermelons, black and green peppers, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, ripe plums and fresh cantaloupe.”
And according to the Journal Star, all of the district’s high schools, most of its middle schools and about one-third of the elementary school have a fruit and vegetable bar. Chicken nuggets are coated in whole wheat crumbs and lasagna made with low-sodium sauce and whole wheat noodles.
“Last year, we spent over $1.1 million dollars on produce. So we do serve a lot, and I’m really excited to see that children don’t waste it, that they eat it. That is really cool,” says Edith Zumwalt, the Director of Nutrition Services in LPS.
For its efforts, the district was recently given the “Golden Carrot Award” from the Physicians Committee (PCRM), a nonprofit medical organization of 12,000 physicians. The award came with $1,500 prize for the nutrition services program. Remarkably, LPS was the only public school to win; private schools in California and Arizona also shared the award.
Following the award, the school district even received praise from one Kourtney Kardashian, who’s apparently a big healthy food advocate and has teamed up with the PCRM. “As a mom who makes her healthy eating a priority, I’m so impressed to see that Lincoln’s lunch trays are filled with colorful, locally grown cherries, savory carrots, yellow watermelon, fresh blueberries, and plums,” the reality star writes in a letter to the school.
Clearly, healthy food doesn’t have to mean bland. Hopefully more schools can take up this philosophy too.
DON’T MISS: This State Is Making Sure No Child Is Ever Denied a School Lunch
While Civil Unrest Rocks Their Community, This Teacher is Working to Prevent Ferguson’s Kids from Going Hungry
Since police shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed, college-bound teenager in Ferguson, Mo., the violent unrest in the small town near St. Louis has yet to cease. With outrage and confusion coming from all directions, basic safety and calm are at a premium. Families are in danger, and as a result, school has been canceled for at least the remainder of this week.
In Ferguson, a week off from school means more than just missed lessons.
The poverty rate there is almost double Missouri’s average, so unfortunately, many kids don’t get proper nutrition unless they are in school, according to the Huffington Post.
Thankfully, Juliana Mendelsohn, a teacher in Raleigh, N.C., recognized the need to provide food and launched an online campaign to raise money for hungry children in Ferguson. Appealing for donations on the crowd funding site Fundly, Mendelsohn says, “when I found out school had been canceled for several days as a result of the civil unrest, I immediately became worried for the students in households with food instability.”
So far, over $78,000 has been raised by thousands of donors (as of publication), with another two days left to reach the goal of $80,000. Dennis Hu, Fundly’s CEO, was so impressed with the mission and success of the campaign that he personally called Mendelsohn to express his support for her.
All the money raised goes directly to help those in need through the St. Louis Area Foodbank, which says the funds are substantial enough to continue making a difference for the next year.
“Regardless of your opinion on the civil unrest in Ferguson,” Mendelsohn continued, “there is no need for innocent children to go hungry because of it.”
If you’re interested in donating, click here.
DON’T MISS: When School’s Not in Session, NYC Food Trucks Are Serving Hungry Kids
When School’s Not in Session, NYC Food Trucks Are Serving Hungry Kids
In New York City, 75 percent of public school students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. For some of the city’s most impoverished students, school lunch might be the one the one nutritious meal he or she gets for the day.
But what happens during the summer when school is out? Do these kids just go unfed?
Well, for the last few years, New York City’s Department of Education has operated a summer meal program to make sure no kid goes hungry, Education News reports. And this summer, the Big Apple got a little creative with their delivery methods.
Since June, four brightly colored food trucks have been roaming the city’s five boroughs, feeding healthy breakfasts and lunches to kids under 18-years-old for free.
MORE: This State Is Making Sure No Child Is Ever Denied a School Lunch
These trucks stop at more than 1,000 locations such as pools, schools, libraries, parks, public housing sites, community-based organizations and soup kitchens. Serving healthy, low-fat fare such as blueberry granola, zucchini bread, omelets, bagels, tacos, salad, watermelon and grilled chicken, the trucks have handed out more than 4.4 million summer meals.
The program is sponsored by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Share Our Strength (SOS), an organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States.
“Ensuring the health of our children is our highest priority — and providing them with quality, nutritious meals is central to that,” said New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.
It’s important that no child goes hungry — how can he or she succeed on an empty stomach? As Billy Shore, founder and CEO of SOS said, “Making sure kids get the healthy food they need in the summer feeds more than just their bodies. It feeds their futures….If we want strong, healthy kids who can hit the ground running when school is back in session this fall, we need to make sure they’re getting the nutrition they need this summer. It’s that simple.”
The summer meal program ends in just a couple of weeks — on August 29 — right before the new school year begins. Those interested in finding the location of the nearest truck can text “nycmeals” to 877877.
DON’T MISS: When These Kids Couldn’t Afford a Hot School Lunch, This Hero Stepped Up
No Lunch Left Behind: One Mother’s Moving Mission
“Don’t Deny Kids Lunch, Dowagiac Schools!”
That’s the message one Michigan mother is spreading after a school official threw out her teenage son’s meal over a $4.95 debt on his account. Even though the outstanding debt was paltry, it warranted the punishment per school policy, which denies hot lunches to students who owe any amount of money on their accounts. For Dominic Gant, a junior at Dowagiac Union High School in Dowagiac, Michigan, the incident was understandably humiliating because it happened in such a public way: “It was really embarrassing, especially in front of the whole class,” he told ABC 57.
The situation didn’t sit well with Gant’s mother, Amanda Keown, who immediately contacted school officials after she heard about her son losing his lunch. When they referred her to the school’s standing policy on outstanding debt, Keown took action on her own, paying off her son’s balance — and every other student’s lunch debt at the high school. Her check totaled around $200 and helped nearly 20 students, but for the frustrated mom, it’s about so much more than just the money. “I realize I didn’t have to do that,” Keown said of her donation. “But I don’t want another kid going through what my son went through.”
Now, Keown is taking it one step further, starting a petition to change what she considers an unfair policy. “I want guidelines set in place for all of the Dowagiac Schools,” she writes on the petition, which has garnered nearly 20,000 signatures since Keown launched it on Monday. “No child should be denied food EVER. Under no circumstances. If there is a case where the child owes more than $10.00 then he needs to be offered a cold sandwich at the very least.”
It’s unclear whether Keown’s petition will change Dowagiac school lunch guidelines as of yet. But her actions are undoubtedly heartwarming — and will hopefully inspire other parents to take action on behalf of their kids in the future.
This State Is Making Sure No Child Is Ever Denied a School Lunch
To deny a child a meal during school lunch is not only humiliating, it’s food that could be the one nutritious meal he or she gets for the day. When news surfaced last month that Utah had dumped school lunches in the trash when students couldn’t pay, Minnesota decided to see if they were also on the same boat. Their troubling survey found that, like Utah, the majority of their own districts would deny a hot meal — or even any meal — to a child who could not pay for it.
According to the Associated Press, about 62,000 low-income children and teens take part in the state’s reduced-price lunch program where a hot, nutritious tray of food costs 40 cents. But if a student cannot pay that 40 cents, they are usually given food like cold cheese sandwiches. In worse cases, they are denied food altogether and, sometimes, little hands are stamped with the words “LUNCH” or “MONEY.”
MORE: When These Kids Couldn’t Afford a Hot School Lunch, This Hero Stepped Up
In response to these findings, lawmakers have pledged to ensure all school children are fed during lunch. State Congressman, Senator Jeff Hayden (D) and Representative Yvonne Selcer (D) proposed a bill called No Child Turned Away that would provide thousands of low-income students with free lunches.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has also proposed $3.5 million in public funds to help schools cover lunch costs for students who can’t afford to pay for a hot meal. “No child in Minnesota should be denied a healthy lunch,” Dayton said in a statement. “We cannot expect our students to succeed on an empty stomach.”
When These Kids Couldn’t Afford a Hot School Lunch, This Hero Stepped Up
At Valley Oaks Elementary School in Houston, Texas, if a student has a negative balance on their lunch accounts, they are given a cold cheese sandwich instead of a warm tray of food. As television affiliate KPRC reports, more than 60 students couldn’t afford to pay the 40 cents a day that would allow them a hot meal. When local tutor and mentor Kenny Thompson learned about the reduced lunch program at his son’s school, he sprung to action.
Thompson, who has worked with Valley Oaks students for 10 years, opened up his own wallet and paid off the $465 needed to zero out the delinquent accounts. “These are elementary school kids. They don’t need to be worried about finances,” he told KPRC. “They need to be worried about what grade they got in spelling.”
MORE: How Much Food Could Be Rescued if College Dining Halls Saved Their Leftovers?
According to the report, Thompson learned that many of these kids would rather go hungry than be seen with their reduced meals. Can you imagine how these kids felt as they ate their meager lunches in front of their better-off classmates? Thompson’s generous gesture ensured that all students at his school were getting the nutrition they need to stay healthy. “When I left the building knowing that they were getting fed, they didn’t have that stress,” he said. “The best money I ever spent.” We couldn’t agree more.