We worry about the hungry people in our community- especially the kids. More than 16 million kids in America are food insecure. For many of these children, school is the only place they’ll get a chance to eat.
Whether a student is food insecure or not, it is well established that proper nutrition is part of the path to success in school.
But not all schools are working effectively to ensure all kids are fed enough to be ready to learn.
If you haven’t read Ms. Catherine Capellaro’s article on recent incidents in a Madison school cafeteria, we strongly encourage you to do so now! A child is not only not given lunch, but that untouched lunch is then thrown in the trash.
How on earth is it okay to have a policy that leaves a child hungry and tosses perfectly “good” food in a garbage pail? What message does this send to the students of our schools, when employees would rather throw out edible food than allow a kid to eat? It tells those kids that they are worth less than a plate of spaghetti. Less than a hamburger.
We strongly urge all of you to contact the Madison Metropolitan School District to protest this absurd policy that ranks throwing away perfectly good food above giving a kid the food they need to grow. And we encourage you to check on your own school’s policy. A quick Google search shows that this is happening across our Nation.
Tip1: contact information if you wish to protest locally – https://foodsvcweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/27
We further urge you into action on a national scale: it is time for this Nation to declare that young people are valuable. No student in any school should go hungry because of some random policy, or because a form wasn’t properly signed, or because their parents weren’t able to add more money to their child’s account swiftly enough.
Tip2: Use this page to find the email, phone or postal contacts for elected officials at the state and national level – http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
Young people don’t often know all the routes to gain access to food. They rely on adults around them to steer them in the right direction, and to ensure that they are fed.