A recent donation to Glynn County Schools will ensure more students have access to hot meals this school year while raising awareness about the importance of student nutrition.
Eat’n Together’s End Alternative Lunch program, an initiative that aims to ensure students who do not have adequate funds in their lunch accounts are still able to purchase hot meals at school, donated $12,000 to the school system’s nutrition department last week.
The nutrition department has used Eat’n Together donations to maintain a fund that for the past several months has covered the cost of meals for students who would otherwise receive what’s known as “alternate lunch.”
The partnership between Eat’n Together and the school system began in November 2022. Since then the initiative has put more than $19,000 toward paying for student lunches. These funds have come through grants, private donations and business partnerships.
The most recent $12,000 donation will begin to be used at the start of the school year and was made possible through a $20,000 grant that Eat’n Together received earlier this month.
The remaining funds will be used to support educational outreach efforts, said Alec Eaton, co-founder of Eat’n Together.
The alternate lunch is usually a sandwich, fruit, vegetables, chips, milk or juice. Some students prefer this meal to other lunch menu options, but Eat’n Together’s lunch fund allows them the dignity of choice and ensures they will get the hot meal if they want it, said Shelley Daniel, director of school nutrition for Glynn County Schools.
“We want them to get a good hot quality meal, and that’s what Alec and I have talked about — we don’t ever want to choose the meal selection for them,” Daniel said. “We want them to be able to choose their own option.”
The nutrition department has a lengthy process in place for students who have a negative balance on their lunch account. This includes encouragement at the cash register to have their parents add money to the account and an email and a call to the parent or guardian when the negative balance reaches a $5 then $7.50 negative balance.
An alternate meal is given when the negative balance reaches $10.
No student received an alternate lunch through this process during the final half of the past school year, though, as Eat’n Together funds covered the costs.
Around 61% of the students in Glynn County Schools were part of the free/reduced lunch program last school year, Daniel said.
The Georgia Department of Education recently voted to use federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds to cover the 40 cents cost per lunch for students who are enrolled in the reduced lunch program.
Previously, students had to pay 40 cents for the reduced price meal, but this year all students who are in the free/reduced lunch program will receive free lunches.
All students in Glynn County Schools receive free breakfast.
This updated policy is good news for students who sometimes do not have adequate funds to cover their lunch costs, Daniel said, as it will remove another barrier.
The purpose of the End Alternative Lunch initiative is to eliminate food insecurity for Glynn County Schools students by developing a fund at each of the 18 local public schools.
Eat’n Together has three main programs, including a biannual meal delivery drive, a “pay what you can” restaurant and the newly established Alternative Lunch Fund Program. Since 2018, Eat’n Together has provided meals to more than 7,500 local families.
The recent $20,000 grant was provided through the CPPS Heritage Mission Fund.
Eat’n Together also maintains a partnership with Stripling’s in Brunswick, where customers can opt to round up at the cash register in order to donate to the Eat’n Together fund for schools.
The End Alternative Lunch initiative also hopes to improve the whole school day for students and for teachers, Eaton said. A smoother lunch operation is better for everyone, and students are happier, less stressed or anxious and able to perform better when they’re properly fed.
“From our side, we have teachers that work in the school system who have reached out to us and have been big supporters of us because a lot of the teachers and staff used to come out of their own pocket to pay for kids’ meals,” Eaton said.
Teachers would learn about hardships students faced at home and saw how that bled into students’ life at school, he added.
“Dr. (Scott) Spence said this since the beginning of the year — anything we can take off teachers to allow them to teach is what we need to do,” Daniel said.
Daniel also hopes to see a greater push at the state or federal level for universal free meals.
“People ask, ‘Why would we have universal feeding?’” she said. “ “We provide the kids a bus ride to school, and we provide them the building. We provide them the books, and we provide them the teacher, and then we charge for the meal.”
Lunch is a crucial part of each student’s day, and good nutrition can be a determining factor in their success.
“The biggest classroom in every single school is the cafeteria,” Daniel said.
It’s critically important, Daniel said, that parents and guardians enroll their students in the free/reduced lunch program if the family qualifies. The application will go online at glynn.k12.ga.us on July 5, and paper applications will be available at each school’s front office.
Nutrition department staff will also attend each school open house with applications to offer assistance.
To learn more about Eat’n Together and to donate, visit www.facebook.com/eatntogether.