A Different Kind of Valentine
- Kathleen Kane, SNS
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Updated: a few seconds ago
School nutrition is, at its core, an act of love.
Now imagine a day without school meals.
The impact would be immediate. Students would arrive hungry, distracted and frustrated before the day begins. Teachers would spend more time managing behavior and less time teaching. Attendance would drop because for many students, school meals are part of the reason they show up. Research shows that school meals are strongly linked to academic success by removing barriers to learning.
The Bigger Picture
More than 30 million students each lunch each day, and over 15 million participate in school breakfast. Without those meals, families would suddenly need to replace up to ten meals per child every week. For many households that expense isn't realistic and children would suffer.
The ripple effects would extend well beyond students and families. School meal programs pump millions of dollars into the economy by purchasing food, supplies, equipment and services from nearby businesses. Local farmers benefit through farm to school efforts. Distributors, truck drivers, warehouse staff, repair technicians and food manufacturers all rely on school nutrition operations. School Nutrition departments are major employers themselves, providing steady jobs in nearly every community. Without school meals, these jobs disappear and businesses could fold.
So What Keeps All That From Happening?
Federal funding and guidelines provide the framework, but it takes well run programs to build budgets that sustain it. Systems control quality, cost and safety, but none of that matters without skilled people bringing them to life. School Nutrition pros are what make the difference between a plan on paper and healthy food on trays. They reassure kids that someone showed up for them. They fuel learning, create a sense of belonging and teach students what nutrition looks like.
Final Thoughts
Valentine's Day is usually about cards, flowers and candy meant to make someone smile that day. School meals are different. They may never come wrapped in ribbons, but they carry something far more lasting. That's why they are a different kind of Valentine. One given every day.