School Lunch News That You Could Use
We’re always keeping up with news stories and articles surrounding school lunches. Every couple of weeks we’ll do the heavy reading and round up our favorite stories for you to get quick information about school lunch news. Here are this week’s stories that we find especially interesting and think you will too.
Free books available to students picking up lunch
The Haywood County Public Library in North Carolina has created a new initiative, “Feeding Bodies, Feeding Minds”, where students are offered free books when grabbing lunch from local drive-thru school feeding locations and established food box giveaway sites. According to the Mountaineer, the mission of the library is to “place books into the hands of children that will become a part of their personal library.” Plenty of picture books, board books, and chapter books are available for students.
Parents push for longer lunch periods
Parents from the Westerly school district in Rhode Island are fighting for school officials to change the 20 minute time for lunch to 30 minutes for elementary schools in the district. This comes after parents found that many students feel rushed to finish their food, which then leads to them being hungry and distracted later in the day.
Second-grader creates more vegetarian options for her school’s lunch menu
Lila Miller, a student at Roland Park in Florida, was inspired by her love for the environment to create a lunch menu with more vegetarian and plant-based options. Thanks to her efforts to promote a more sustainable lunch menu, she was able to bring back “Meatless Mondays” at her school and add options like mushroom pizza and mac n’ cheese with broccoli.
Pharrell Williams opens a private school in Virginia for low-income families
Carrying on with more good deeds, the singer Pharrell Williams announced his plans to open a string of private schools for students from grades three to five from low-income families where the first year of tuition is free. Williams non-profit, Yellowhab, has a history of offering summer programs and education services in the Hampton Roads area in Virginia. According to the Virginian Pilot, Williams described the inspiration behind his plans as, “we don’t want lockstep learning where so many kids fall behind; we want bespoke learning designed for each child, where the things that make a child different are the same things that will make a child rise up and take flight.”
Making free meals available to rural homes in Wisconsin
Thanks to the National School Lunch Program, The Sharing Center and Gourmet Gorilla created a pilot program that delivers a week’s worth of breakfast and lunch to rural families with children who can’t make it out to school for free meals in Racine County, WI. According to The Journal Times, the boxes are packed with “fully cooked, unprepared proteins, grain, fresh fruits, vegetables, and milk, as well as suggested recipes for the food provided.” Sharon Pomaville, executive director of The Sharing Center, shared her excitement for this being “the first time the federal nutrition programs will pay for a summer meal outside of a school or congregate setting.”
