__________________________________________________________________________________________
By Pauline Masson – When the 2022 school starts August 23, every school building in the MVR-III district has a positive balance in its school meals accounts, district officials say, thanks largely to a Pacific Eagles fundraising effort that has drawn support from the entire community.
When students who are not certified for free school meals arrive in the cafeteria without cash in hand or in their school meal account, they start to accrue school meal debt. Until recently, when the debt reached a certain amount the student was served an alternative meal, a practice that made the students so uncomfortable that some did not eat lunch.
But that has all changed in Meramec Valley, following awareness that was generated by this Eagles program.
Unpaid school meal accounts are a problem for districts all across the nation, made worse by rising food costs and the fact that the federal government waivers – which provided free lunches nationwide during the pandemic – end Sept. 30.
Good Samaritans have stepped up in many districts to pay off lunch debt.
In our town, the Good Samaritan is Pacific Eagles Aerie 3842. When Eagle Mike Mueller learned in 2019 that lunch debt meant that some kids were going without lunch rather than accept the fruit and sandwich that signaled that they hadn’t paid their lunch bill he was alarmed.
“It never occurred to me that the school wasn’t providing the same lunch for every kid or that some kids would go hungry rather than be embarrassed,” Mueller said.
At Mueller’s request his fellow Eagles kicked off a series of barbecues, pool tournaments and drawings aimed at paying off students’ meals debt.
Last week, Dan McClain, Eagles bingo chair and past president delivered a check of $5,649 to the school board to pay off any lunch debt left over from last school year and start the new year with a cushion. The check was the result of a recent barbecue that drew heavy community participation.
“Everything we do involves the community – from bingo to monthly breakfast to barbecues and pool tournaments,” McClain said. “The community always turns out when they know the event is to pay for school lunches. Some people drop by just to make a donation.”
The recent barbecue brought the amount Eagles events have raised for school meals debt since 2019 to $20,444.
After the Eagles made their first donation and got the community involved the MVR-III school board took measures to change the entire school meal program. Now all students are served the same hot meal regardless of their ability to pay. Which isn’t the same as getting free lunch. Students still remain on the hook for every lunch they eat.
The recent Eagles donation will be distributed to each school in the district, based on the number of students in the school. In December the district will review the school meals debt for each school and the donations will help pay off any debt incurred during the first half of the school year. Once all the donated funds are applied to meal accounts, debt can again start to add up.
Unpaid meals balances can take a toll on a students and their families. McClain said the Eagles are committed to annual fund raisers to help the students and the district keep the school debt in control.
“Kids should not have to worry about this,” McClain said.
There is one untapped source of revenue to help offset or reduce district meal costs and free some students from having to pay for lunch. The Free/Reduced Meal Program provides meals for qualifying students. And district officials feel that many families who would qualify for the free or reduced meals have not applied for them.
“The district is highly encouraging families to complete the free/reduced meal application to support families with student meals, “said Dr. Ketina Armstrong, assistant superintendent. “Children experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, runaway youth, or children of migrant workers all qualify for free school meals when their household fills out an application.”
Children can also qualify for free or reduced-price meals through an application if their household’s income is under a certain limit.
But they have to fill out the application. School district staff will help families understand how they qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on the information they put on their school meal application, Dr. Armstrong said.
The application can be downloaded from the school district web page www.mvr3.k12.mo.us
