In your Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s eight-county service region, more than 1 in 5 children face food insecurity. More than 72,000 kids in our area receive one, if not two meals while at school. Most of these students rely heavily on these free or reduced-price meals. These meals serve as a much-needed safety net for parents who struggle to make ends meet.
Last week was National School Lunch Week, a week selected to celebrate the importance of a healthy school lunch in a child’s life and the impact it has inside and outside the classroom. The National School Lunch Program serves more than 30 million children every school day.
National School Lunch Week helps us remember how important it is to take a stand against the practice of punishing children for their families’ inability to pay for lunch. Every child deserves a healthy school lunch and a chance to learn, free from hunger and shame. Now is the time to stop the practice of "lunch shaming" – and instead make sure more kids have lunch at school.
Congress can include policies within the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act that would end bullying tactics and ease the financial burden of unpaid lunch fees on school districts. Rather than isolate and humiliate a child, policies should be changed to require that efforts to collect debt be directed to parents or guardians.
CLICK HERE TO TELL CONGRESS: The best way to celebrate school lunch is by ending lunch shaming.
Thank you for taking a stand for the kids in our community and for your continued support of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.