Posted on 09/30/2014 8:30:50 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
On Wednesday, Rose Gordon and her staff served 308 school lunches to all 308 students who came to school at Lake Forest Elementary.
Gordon, the food service manager, said she was shocked when she saw the numbers later. Most days, she said, “I maybe miss two or three.”
What Gordon saw last week can be attributed, at least in part, to Lake Forest’s membership in a federally funded program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all students at 24 local schools, regardless of ability to pay.
In the past, free and reduced-price lunch was dictated by family income.
This program, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, targets the highest-need communities in school districts.
District administrators say they already have noticed significant increases in students eating school lunch at each of the 24 sites.
The number of free breakfasts and lunches being served each day across all 24 CEP schools is up 13 percent, food service specialist Caron Rowe said.
That amounts to an additional 1,216 meals a day over what schools were serving last year, she said.
Metcalfe Elementary’s enrollment increased by 166 students this year, but the number of students being fed at school each day jumped by 374.
At Mebane Middle, Rowe said, all but about five students a day go through the lunch line.
“We’ve been very, very pleased with the numbers so far,” she said.
Well said...
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