when i was in grammar school, back in the 70s, every now and then a kid would not have a lunch, or would not have his lunch money or ticket... that kid would be given a bun/roll and a milk... it did not happen often... once i had my little purse stolen--so i had no lunch money... my teacher took me to the teachers' lounge and gave me some lunch from her stash--cheese, crackers and veggies... i will never forget that!
It’s a tough position to be in, especially as a mom.
We usually managed to work out something for the ones who couldn’t get a lunch.
The irony is that there is no real oversight of the applications for free lunch so lots of parents who shouldn’t get it do so as I said fraud is rampant. But, when it came to the number of lunches served, the control was rigid and we would come under scrutiny if we ordered too many over a period of time. The accounting of the food was stringently watched over to “cut costs”.
The whole thing is a perfect microcosm of the problems with the welfare state and liberalism.