Casey Donahue
Staff Writer
As the COVID-19 pandemic has somewhat subsided, ACHS’s free lunch program has ended. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) disbanded the coronavirus relief program in which people ages 2-18 were able to receive free lunch nationally.
The plan implemented free school lunches regardless of income at home to provide support to families that needed extra support at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The USDA website states, “Schools had some flexibility during COVID-19, so they could serve all kids free meals. Some of those options expired, so many schools can’t serve all meals free anymore.”
The program that allowed this is known as the Farm program, an initiative to connect kids with local foods in eligible schools. Each year, $5 million is given to the USDA to ensure that Farm has enough money to give out grants, technical assistance and other related activities. FARM also helps with securing geographical diversity with the grants they provide.
The Alexandria City Public School System is eligible for the Farm program: “Because our community is area eligible, meaning more than 50% of our student population qualifies for Farm, we were able to open the program allowing families to participate under the [2] summer meal options. In addition, the waivers also allowed families to pick up meals which helped significantly throughout the pandemic,” said ACPS Nutrition Director Cynthia Hormel. This means that during the pandemic, ACPS was able to offer all children in Alexandria free meals, without students needing to be present at pick up.
In addition to the COVID-19 relief program provided by Farm, the USDA also provided Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) cards. P-EBT is a federal program created in 2020 during the pandemic to give kids access to meals while school was not in person. “[The cards] are the first ever that I am aware of, and I have been [in] this industry for a long time,” said Hormel. To be eligible for one of these cards, the individual needs to qualify for free or reduced lunch.
The menu of the ACHS cafeteria is supposed to not vary in comparison to the School Cafe website in terms of the meals provided for that day, week or month, but the USDA website states that schools are “facing the same challenges many grocery stores and other places are having with getting all the food and supplies they need.” The USDA also urges parents to be patient with school nutritionists.
Currently, the Farm program is disbanded at Alexandria City High School, but there are many options if students are unable to afford meals. Students are automatically enrolled in free or reduced meals if any household receives benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reserves (FDPIR). There are also applications available based on household income, and students can be eligible if they are in the foster care system, runaway youth or the children of migrant workers.
Featured photo by Casey Donahue
