Sometimes a story comes along that stirs emotions to the point where you feel you need to take action. Recently, two stories on the same subject have created that stir within me. A story that’s in need of a solution. A solution requiring a grassroots effort to help those who can’t help themselves.
In January, Uintah Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah literally took lunches away from approximately 40 middle school students in front of their classmates because the students parents were delinquent on payments to the school hot lunch program. Outrage poured in from around the world as the story made its way through the news and social media. Punishing defenseless children for something they could not possibly have done anything about. Unspeakable in the manner it was done in front of classmates. The school subsequently suspended those involved in the decision.
Recently, the Salt Lake City school board changed it’s hot lunch program policy. While parents are still required to pay for their kids lunches, instead of taking hot food from a child, the school will now work with parents delinquent in their accounts.
As a result of the Salt Lake story, Kenny Thompson, a tutor and mentor for the past ten years at Valley Oaks Elementary School in Houston, Texas wanted to find out how many of the children in his school were in the same position. He was told over 60 children were eating cheese or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches instead of the hot lunches their fellow classmates were eating. The reason was the same as in Salt Lake City — the childrens parents were behind on the hot lunch payments. Heartbroken after realizing what was happening in his own school, Thompson then paid the entire $465 bill with money intended for new shoes. His joy on using the money to put hot food in children’s bellies instead profoundly touched me.
I tried to keep from weeping while reading Thompson’s beautiful act to my wife, but to no avail. The tears flowed in joy that Thompson showed the true meaning of life, and the tears flowed in rage that a school system allows an imbalance in children eating under a program meant to feed all. We can debate the role of the parents in this, but I’m not interested in that. Sometimes its the parent being irresponsible, sometimes the parent is just financially destitute.
Either way I don’t care… it’s the child that suffers. That’s all I care about. The rest is politics that have no place in this particular discussion.
As I laid in bed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the situation. How can this be. How can a country as charitable as America allow this. I understand there are programs in place in some areas, such as the Charlotte, NC school district —which offers free breakfast and reduced price lunches based on need. And yes, there are Title I schools around the country that offer free lunches if enough children in the school reside under the poverty level. But obviously that’s not enough. The schools in Utah and Houston can’t be an isolated incident.
I started a discussion on this subject within my Facebook page and found several friends have children in schools that also do PB&J or cheese sandwiches for those behind on hot lunch payments. One told me that if her child fell behind they gave her kid a sandwich, but she was still expected to repay the money by the next day…. the full amount of the meal, not a reduced rate since it was a sandwich. In other words, the school was deliberately penalizing the family by giving them a lesser quality lunch but expecting the payment rate of a hot lunch. Effectively, a handslap reprimand.
At the Houston school Thompson mentioned the school charges forty cents a day to feed the children of a certain income level. That is the same amount several of my Facebook people’s schools charge disadvantaged families. Forty cents a day. If there are twenty school days in a month, that comes out to eight dollars a month.
I couldn’t sleep. Eight dollars is what I pay for Netflix. I could easily pay eight dollars a month so that one child could have one hot lunch each day for at least a month. To be honest, there isn’t anything in my life that would change if I were eight dollars lighter each month.
But I’m just one person. That’s just one child being helped. There are so many children. How can we make a change, even if just a short-term change.
A collective of people from around America. People willing to pay something each month to ensure a hot lunch debt is forgiven. Not a handout. Not charity. An acknowledgment that no child should suffer the stigma that attaches to a situation they have no control over.
Life for kids can be hard enough in school with brutal peer pressure… on a good day. Painting a segment of students with the scarlet P for Poor is wrong. Who thinks it’s okay for a child to sit in a cafeteria and get sideways glances and snickers because they can’t have what the other children are having. Kids are kids, and they say things without realizing the long-term consequences. Words can hide inside a child and haunt them far into adulthood.
As I thought more on the collective, my idea was this. People make monthly payments of ten dollars deducted straight from their bank account or credit/debit card, just as their Netflix membership is done.
Schools around America can apply to be a lunch debt forgiveness recipient of the month with no guarantees of selection. To eliminate the concerns of potential donors that this would create a situation of deliberate non-payment by parents, once a school has had a hot lunch debt forgiven they are not eligible to apply again for several years. The schools chosen each month would be randomly selected from around the country. Monthly donors would not be able to recommend schools. All favoritism to be taken out.
As to how schools would be selected, the first criteria is the entire debt would have to be forgiven. It does no good to pay for some students of a school and leave others to retain the scarlet P.
If one month the program has $800 to use, schools who have applied with a hot lunch debt of under $800 would be considered. Perhaps there is a school with $250 and a school with $425 in debt. Both schools hot lunch debts could be erased and the leftover money applied the next month. Perhaps a school with a debt of $748 gets forgiven.
The cycle starts over again the next month.
I’m sure some are wondering why ten dollars. Why not let people donate more or less. It’s my feeling that if the idea is to start a collective of people coming together to help feed children then it should be on equal footing. Problems start when people begin using how much money they’ve donated as a means to get their own way. That’s why I wouldn’t want corporations involved either. A true grassroots collective of people taking care of each other.
For the long-term, a realistic dollar figure should be used. Ten dollars is a round number. Ten dollars is easy to look at and realize it’s not going to significantly change one’s financial picture if donating that amount. Ten dollars allows the average person to feel this is something they too can play a role in.
Ten dollars will significantly impact a boy or girl in time of need. We may not be able to wipe out all hot lunch debt, and it won’t change the children’s home financial outlook, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try showing some understanding and compassion. For the price of a couple of morning coffees or a ticket to a movie, we can help in some small way.
This is how the grassroots can help children in need.
It’s much easier to highlight a problem that needs fixing when you bring it down to an easy-to-see level. When all is said and done, it’s all about feeding children one meal at a time.
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