Thank You to Our Legislators

Last Thursday we attended the State House to celebrate School Nutrition Day and thank our legislators for supporting the bill that passed last legislative session allowing students from families that make from 130% to 185% of the Federal Poverty Level ($30,615 – $43,568 per year) to eat lunch for free. Already we have seen significant results this school year that we wanted to share with the leaders in state that made it possible. 

Our Child Nutrition Team at School Nutrition Day,, January 23, 2014

We were stationed by the cafeteria so we could thank legislators as they passed by for their morning coffee, and our Program Director also gave testimony at the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Our Program Director, Dorigen Keeney (R) and Abbey Nelson (Middle), of
VT FEED and SNA-VT, thank our legislators for supporting the bill
that allows all low-income syudents to eat lunch for free.

Here are some excerpts from that testimony:

• This Committee’s support last session helped make Vermont the only state in the country that has entirely eliminated the reduced price category for families in our school meal programs.  We are here to tell you that we can already measure the difference this change has made for low income Vermont students and their families. 
• Incredibly, the Colchester School District has seen a 79% increase in reduced price participation for the month of November.  Schools in the Brattleboro area saw a 37% increase during the same month. So you can imagine how many students were previously unable to pay that 40 cents to eat lunch just last year. We won’t get the statewide averages for the whole school year on changes in participation until next December but were able to look at what some schools reported in November. 
• The increase in enrollment in reduced price meals since last school year is far beyond our expectations – up by 40% in Colchester and Brattleboro and up by 21% in Chelsea, Sharon, South Royalton, and Tunbridge, for example. This means that families who are really struggling in that benefit cliff did not even apply for reduced price meals because they knew they could not come up with the 40 cents their children would need to eat lunch.
• As one food service director shared, “…this act has had a very positive effect.  Firstly, our students of families that teeter on the edge of income security have been relieved of any financial stress regarding school lunch. Students suffer the consequences when families cannot afford to pay for reduced price meals and it is heartbreaking to deny students access to lunch.”  
  
  

  

  Our Child Nutrition Advocacy Manager, Anore Horton (second from the L), 
  poses with her fellow School Nutrition Association-VT members
  who joined us to thank legislators.

• Your actions have made sure that the more than 6,000 reduced price students, many of whom are not able to pack a lunch because there is no food at home, can have at least 2 nutritious meals a day when school is in session. 

We also shared quotes from parents and food service staff that illustrate what this bill has meant to them and their students. Here are two examples:

“The $.40 does not sound like a lot but when the bill came it was just too much to pay with everything else. Now I know my kids are fed and I don’t keep getting behind. For that I am grateful, and we are a lot less stressed.” 

-Mother of two elementary school children in Addison County

“I applaud the legislation that has made it possible to offer free lunch to those students once paying a reduced price.  I am writing this on MLK day and I have a dream.  I envision a time when attending a public school will allow all children access to breakfast and lunch at no cost, regardless of income.”  I am proud to be a Vermonter.  Keep up the excellent work!!” —Meggen Hanna, Chef & Food Service Manager, Barstow Memorial School

This bill was a tremendous success and we couldn't be more proud of the legislators who supported the bill and the Senate Appropriations Committee for appropriating the funds to to feed more of our students so they have the nutrition they need to grow, learn, and thrive.