Founder & CEO | Goodr. Social Entrepreneur, TED Speaker, Leader & Giver. Passionate About Ending Hunger & Food Waste.
On Monday, I learned that Decatur City Schools planned to serve cheese sandwiches and milk to students with unpaid meal balances for more than three days. This practice can be embarrassing and stigmatizing for the kids, affecting their self-esteem and overall well-being. No child should ever go hungry or be subjected to unnecessary embarrassment due to the financial constraints of their parents. Every child deserves a full, nutritious meal to fuel their bodies and minds for a successful day of learning. I am a huge supporter of educators and I know that hunger can impede learning and that no teacher could ever teach through hunger. It is important that we prioritize the well-being of our kids and ensure they have access to healthy, balanced meals. I spoke with the school district’s department of nutrition and learned they have an outstanding balance of $88K and they are accepting donations. I have created a GoFundMe to pay off the balances for these kids so they don't face this stigmatization. Please consider making a donation and/or sharing this with your network. If you prefer to donate in person they are accepting checks and money orders to Decatur City Schools Department of Nutrition 125 Electric Ave. Decatur, GA 30030. https://gofund.me/a34ce446
Jasmine Crowe-Houston, who do we contact at the school system to make sure this practice doesn't continue. This is so disappointing on so many levels. As a Decatur resident and CSD graduate and parent, I am disgusted. Thank you for posting about this!
Thanks for bringing awareness to this. It is basically a punishment. A better approach is needed. Are there any free options available for those in need? Is this a public school? Am I missing something?
Wow thanks for shedding light onto this. There should definitely be a change to their practice. Donation helps the issue at hand right now, but what happens in the long run ?
They apparently have not considered that some of the children may have dairy allergies.
They do the same thing in Cobb County. I happily paid off a lot of my former students’ lunch fees. However, this cannot always be sustained by teachers.
How do we have a surplus at Georgia State Government level and can't allocate any for schools?...
Former cafeteria worker here. It was always heartbreaking to see the children that couldn't afford lunch. I was willing to pay for lunches out of my money. However, I learned a few things while working there. The Nutrition program is a federal program. Yes, it is a business. If a student cannot afford lunch by law they must provide them with a cheese sandwich and milk instead of a regular meal. Absolutely every piece of food in those kitchens have to be counted and reported. Nothing is free. Many parents don't apply to the free and/or reduced lunch before the deadline. I literally watched several managers call parent after parent to apply throughout the summer. Some kids spend all of their lunch money on snacks, ice cream and juices instead of buying meals. I recall one parent coming to see the menu in the cafeteria and he said, "Wow, you guys actually serve meals and every time I ask my daughter what did she eat she says ice cream." But workers and teachers did help pay for lunches but they unfortunately couldn't support kids throughout the entire school year. As a former Social Worker I know that the school system will and can do only so much when it comes to issues like this. This is a great outreach initiative.
Thanks for sharing!
Corporate Communications, Recovering Journalist
1yThis is my kid's school district and trust me when I say there are PLENTY of parents who are upset about this and especially embarrassed because CoD is full of high income families who would have been more than happy to contribute to wipe out the debt so that all of this could have been avoided.