Sustainable Living by Shawn Dell Joyce

As our children go back to school, many parents grow increasingly concerned about the school lunch program. Most school lunches cost between $2.50 and $3. With government subsidies through the United States Department of Agriculture, public schools receive $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduced-price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. That adds up to about $9 billion to feed 30 billion children each year. Ironically, most of the money pays for janitors, cafeteria expenses and other nonfood costs, as well as lunch.

So what do our kids get for $2.57?

"Food distributed by the National School Lunch Program contains some of the same ingredients found in fast food, and the resulting meals routinely fail to meet basic nutritional standards," pointed out Alice Waters, who is the president of the Chez Panisse Foundation, and Katrina Heron, who is a director of the foundation. "Yet this is how the government continues to 'help' feed millions of American schoolchildren, a great many of them from low-income households."

Waters and Heron started the Edible Schoolyard, a program of the Chez Panisse Foundation, on a 1-acre organic garden for urban public-school students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, Calif. This program connects kids with their food by teaching them all aspects of growing, harvesting and preparing nutritious seasonal produce. This school still uses the high-fat USDA commodities, but it also cooks food from scratch and has added organic fruits and vegetables to the menu, as well.

Most schools don't actually have real kitchens anymore or staffs who actually cook. Foods distributed through the school lunch program are processed and cooked already, e.g., chicken nuggets and pizza that just need to be thawed or heated. Schools also receive bonus commodities from big food producers of processed cheese and other high-fat, low-nutrition junk foods.

Parent organizations, such as Two Angry Moms and Better School Food, have sprung up across the country to demand more nutritious foods in public schools. Other schools across the country are integrating gardens into their curricula or partnering with local farms to grow produce specifically for the schools.

So what would it cost to revamp the school lunch program to include fresh organic produce from local farms?

"It could be done for about $5 per child, or roughly $27 billion a year, plus a one-time investment in real kitchens," noted Waters and Heron in a recent New York Times editorial. While that may sound expensive, it pales in comparison with long-term health benefits, lowered juvenile diabetes and obesity rates, and better dietary habits for life.

As parents, we can pay for the cost through higher-quality school lunches now or higher medical bills later.

A side benefit of linking local farms with school lunches is that it would boost local economies rather than leak money out of the schools' communities. Most small farms rely on sound farming practices that don't significantly damage local ecosystems, unlike large-scale food growers.

"Every public school child in America deserves a healthful and delicious lunch that is prepared with fresh ingredients," wrote Waters and Heron. "Cash-strapped parents should be able to rely on the government to contribute to their children's physical well-being, not to the continued spread of youth obesity, Type 2 diabetes and other diet-related problems. Let's prove that there is such a thing as a good, free lunch."

Want to change the National School Lunch Program? A few suggestions from http://www.BetterSchoolFood.org:

—"Have Lunch with Your Child in the School Cafeteria. Experience with your eyes, nose, ears and mouth what your kids are eating. Ask to see ingredient lists for all the food on the menu.

—"Grow Your Numbers. Invite other parents in the community to join you in the cafeteria who might not have been aware of what the kids are eating.

—"Join a Committee or Coalition. Get involved with the nutrition committee in your school or a wellness committee in your district. Create one if none (exists).

—"Build Your Food IQ. Learn which foods are right for your family; not all foods are good for everyone!

—"Cook with Your Kids. Read books. (Take) classes. Watch cooking shows. Be adventurous and try new foods. Test recipes. Make it a family project.

—"Grow Some Food in a Garden. Get your kids connected to their food. Create and participate in school gardening and cooking classes that produce real food. Connect the dots between our environmental crisis and our food crisis.

—"Call Congress. Let them know you support legislation to get advertising and junk food out of schools, and a Farm Bill that supports small farmers and local markets. Let's flood our schools with fresh fruits and vegetables.

—"Walk Your Talk as a Family. Eat dinner together whenever possible. ...

—"Don't Give Up! Our children's health and well-being needs to be our top priority. Take a stand and get involved. Don't assume someone else will.

Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and founder of the Wallkill River School in Orange County, N.Y. You can contact her at Shawn@ShawnDellJoyce.com. To find out more about Shawn Dell Joyce and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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