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News Articles: School lunch

GPB News NPR

Tagged as: 

  • Arts & Life

A 12-year-old honors the cafeteria worker who came to her rescue in first grade

In first grade, Clara Temple had to get a hot lunch at school for the first time. The process was confusing. She ended up in tears. Then a cafeteria worker stepped in — and made a lasting impression.

December 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Laura Kwerel and
  • Autumn Barnes
Downtown Decatur, Ga.

Tagged as: 

  • News

Corporate donation eliminates $200K in lunch debt for students in Atlanta area school districts

The Arby's Foundation announced a gift Thursday after reports that about 700 students in Decatur City Schools soon would receive cheese sandwiches instead of regular meals at lunch.

January 29, 2024
|
By:
  • Orlando Montoya
Students

Tagged as: 

  • News

Lake Forest Elementary one of 31 Fulton schools enjoying free meals

Lake Forest Elementary School is among 31 Fulton County Schools enjoying the benefit of breakfast and lunch at the school for all students at no charge.

August 28, 2023
|
By:
  • Bob Pepalis
Amelia, a 5-year-old student at Oakville Elementary School, socializes during lunch in March at the school in Oakville, Mo. Kids who eat school meals tend to have a healthier diet.

Tagged as: 

  • Food

Schools ended universal free lunch. Now meal debt is soaring

Across the country, schools are reporting rising cafeteria debt, and fewer kids are enrolling in their free and reduced price programs. Many states are moving to make meals free for all kids again.

May 03, 2023
|
By:
  • Kate Grumke
GPB News NPR

Tagged as: 

  • Children's Health

A new study offers hints that healthier school lunches may help reduce obesity

The national study found a small but significant decline in the average BMI of more than 14,000 schoolkids after implementation of a 2010 federal law that boosted nutrition standards for school meals.

February 15, 2023
|
By:
  • The Associated Press
Bagged lunches await stapling before being distributed to students at Jefferson county's Tri-Plex Campus involving the students from the Jefferson County Elementary School, the Jefferson County Upper Elementary School and the Jefferson County Junior High School, March 3, 2021 in Fayette, Miss. 

Tagged as: 

  • News

'Lunch debt' in Georgia returns after the end of free lunch for all

Federal funding helped schools provide free lunch to all students regardless of income for most of the pandemic, but now that Congress has let that funding expire, students once again have to apply for free or reduced price lunch. That change has some worried about whether kids in Georgia schools are getting enough to eat, or whether schools will once again start putting families in debt over their daily school meals. GPB's Peter Biello spoke about this with Alessandra Ferrara-Miller, founder of All For Lunch, a nonprofit dedicated to wiping out lunch debt.

August 23, 2022
|
By:
  • Peter Biello

Tagged as: 

  • News

Georgia joins lawsuit against USDA school lunch funding changes

Georgia recently joined 22 other states in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They’re pushing back against federal guidelines around school lunch funding as schools open across Georgia.

August 03, 2022
|
By:
  • Amanda Andrews
 Marietta City Schools provided free meals in 2021 to students taking in-person classes and also take-home meals for students taking virtual courses. Photo courtesy of Marietta City Schools Nutrition Dept.

Tagged as: 

  • News

End of school year meets end of expanded food subsidies for Georgia children

Families in Georgia will no longer receive extra money for groceries to help keep children’s stomachs from growling during the summer.

June 01, 2022
|
By:
  • Stanley Dunlap
Fairmeadow Elementary School third grade students Ellery Carlson, left, and Tatiana Aboytes, right, pick chocolate milk during a school lunch program

Tagged as: 

  • Children's Health

Georgia children could lose access to food if nutrition waivers are not renewed

Recent increases in food insecurity are not going away despite declines in COVID-19. The United States Department of Agriculture says roughly 12% of Georgia families do not have enough to eat.

April 12, 2022
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Nutritionist Shaunté Fields (center) and bus driver Treva White (behind Fields, on the bus) deliver meals to children and their families in Seattle. When schools closed because of COVID-19, Seattle Public Schools began distributing breakfast and lunch to students through a network of 26 school sites and 43 bus routes five days a week.

Tagged as: 

  • Children's Health

Millions of children will miss healthy school meals when pandemic relief expires

A boost in funds and flexibility in how food is prepared and packaged was a lifeline for kids coping with hunger. But these measures, passed in response to COVID-19, expire in June, with no extension.

March 21, 2022
|
By:
  • Allison Aubrey
Derek Amato became a musical savant after a traumatic accident.

Tagged as: 

  • Arts & Life

You 2.0: Fresh Starts

Unpredictable things happen to us all the time. As part of our annual You 2.0 series on personal growth and reinvention, we revisit two of our favorite stories of loss and the change it brings.

August 21, 2020
|
By:
  • Shankar Vedantam,
  • Maggie Penman,
  • and 1 more
Kindergartner Landon Hall (right) licks his fingers as he finishes off his peanut butter and jelly sandwich at Alexander II Magnet School where students began their lunch at 10:30 in the morning.

How Congress Could Change Lunchtime In Macon Schools

The federal Farm Bill making its way through Congress could dramatically reduce the availability of free school meals. Those meals offer significant...

September 25, 2018
|
By:
  • Virginia Prescott and
  • Leighton Rowell

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