Universal Meals

The Lunch Monitor: Increased 3SquaresVT Benefits and the Continued Importance of Universal School Meals

In October 2021, 3SquaresVT benefits increased in Vermont and around the country thanks to important changes made by the federal government to the food stamp program. This is the largest increase in benefits since the program began, which seems like good news for food-insecure families in our community, but there is more to the story.

Unfortunately, recent inflation rates in the US have also climbed to their highest in more than 30 years, which puts increased pressure on low-income families. The new maximum 3SquaresVT benefit per person for a family of 4 is now $6.86 per day. The average meal cost in Vermont is $3.60 per meal, so these benefits cover just 64% of their food costs for a family who is receiving the maximum benefit.

Veggie Van Go pickup

How do families in our community make up the difference? Many families rely on local food pantries like Foodworks and programs like the Vermont Foodbank’s Veggie Van Go Program for meals at home. For families with school-aged children, the fact that school breakfast and lunch are free again this year thanks to a temporary pandemic waiver from the USDA reduces financial stress for families.

School meals looks different than when we were kids!

There is currently a statewide effort to bring universal school meals to every public school in Vermont, to make breakfast and lunch free for all students permanently. 38.6% of families in Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) receive 3SquaresVT benefits; therefore if universal meals were to become permanent in WSESU, that would directly benefit approximately 423 students in our district who might not otherwise have adequate nutrition to help them succeed in school. Additionally, 54% of eligible Vermonters are reluctant to apply for 3SquaresVT due to stigma, making programs like universal school meals even more crucial to the health of children and families in our community who are not receiving benefits. Multiple studies have confirmed that universal meals improve student learning, behavior, and health, reducing stigma in schools, and fostering a positive learning environment. Click here to show your support for universal meals.

Where in the World are We Eating? A Celebration of Diversity by the WSESD School Lunch Program

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School lunch never tasted as good to me as it did on Tuesday, September 28, when I sampled a delicious Thai meal in the BUHS cafeteria. Thanks to “Where in the World are We Eating,” a new program by Brattleboro Regional Food Service Director Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe, all Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) students had the opportunity to visit Thailand with their taste buds last month. Rather than the standard lunch fare of mac and cheese, pizza, and sandwiches, students could sample chicken satay, tofu Pad Thai, vegetarian Tom Kha soup (my favorite!), and mango sticky rice.

Ali was inspired to create this program to bring the entire school community together to celebrate the diversity of our school district through the shared experience of food. She collaborated with the district’s ESOL teachers to compile a list of the 22 countries students in WSESD are from. Twenty-two countries is a lot to fit into one school year, so she selected nine countries (one per month) to focus on this year, and she plans to continue the program and visit more countries in the future. Thailand is just the beginning! Here is the complete list of countries that students will get to explore with their taste buds this year:

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  • September - Thailand

  • October - Jordan

  • November - Haiti

  • December - Germany

  • January - Kenya

  • February - Syria

  • March - The Philippines

  • April - Jamaica

  • May - Bolivia

Ali is encouraging the entire school community at all nine schools in the district to get involved, with invitations to music, art teachers, and librarians to feature music, art, and literature highlighting these countries with their students throughout the year. Invitations have also gone out to 6th-12th grade social studies teachers to take turns doing an in-depth study with their students on the featured country. As a culmination of this research, students will create slideshows to share with students of all ages throughout the district to teach about each country’s flora, fauna, clothing, and scenery. For Thailand, Sarah Kaltenbaugh’s 6th graders at Academy School created an engaging slideshow that highlighted beautiful statues, floating markets, and clouded leopards. This slideshow was shared with students from pre-K through high school seniors during the special meal. Early grades can decorate their school cafeterias with coloring pages incorporating images from each featured country.

“I want all of our students, no matter where they are from, to feel welcomed and celebrated in our schools,” says Ali West. As a chef and food service director, the best way that she has found to do this is through a celebration of diversity in the school meal program, which is accessible to all students again this year thanks to the USDA extension of universal meals. Ali even met the added challenge of including local produce in the meal by purchasing bean sprouts from the Chang Farm in Whately, MA, through the Food Connects Food Hub.

The Lunch Monitor: An Incomplete and Ongoing Guide to Farm to School Policy

There’s a lot going on at the state and national level when it comes to Farm to School policies. So much so that it can be overwhelming and confusing when you’re trying to sort out what’s happening, when it’s happening, and what the impact could be. The Food Connects team wants to invite you along as we follow the latest news and encourage our lawmakers to take action.

We plan to stay up-to-date on important legislation affecting Farm to School programming. We’ll also do the work of figuring out its impact, who’s supporting it, its stage in the legislative process, and why we think it’s important. We’d love to hear from you! Share with us the effect one of these bills would have on you and your community or let us know about something important we may have missed.

Your local legislator would love to hear from you too. We’ll be sure to include contact info with each of our updates. It’s important to remind our representatives that the work they’re doing is important and that their constituents care about these issues.

First up, we’re taking a look at the Universal School Meals Bill that has recently been introduced into the Vermont legislature.  

Universal School Meals Bill (Vermont) | S.223 and H.812

What it does

  1. Requires all public schools in Vermont to serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost to the student or their family.

  2. Reallocates school meals as an education expense to be included with the rest of the school budget. Schools would be required to fund the portion of school meals not reimbursed through federal funds or other revenue sources.

  3. Maximizes federal reimbursement for meals at all schools through existing programs.

  4. Defines the time spent by students eating school meals during class as instructional time.

  5. Provides a five-year transition period and funding to help schools make the move to universal meals.

  6. Provides an additional full-time position in the Child Nutrition Programs at the Vermont Agency of Education.

Why we think it’s important

We see the positive impact Universal Meals makes in our region. The Brattleboro Town School and the Windham Central Supervisory Union both offer free meals to their students. Both districts have seen dramatic increases in meal participation after implementation. This means more students have a reliable source of healthy, nutritious food and the Food Service Programs have more money through federal and state reimbursements to further improve the quality of their food. This is a virtuous cycle that we’d be excited to see expanded to all districts throughout the state. 

Who supports it

In the Vermont House of Representatives, there are 27 co-sponsors of the bill, including Representatives Mollie Burke and Emilie Kornheiser from Brattleboro. The Vermont Senate version of the bill has four co-sponsors. Currently, the bill doesn’t have any co-sponsors from southern Vermont. Reach out to your state senator and encourage them to join this bill! 

Current status

Both the House and Senate versions of the bill are currently in committee (sub-groups of the House and Senate that focus on specific areas of governance, like education, health care, and transportation). The Senate Committee on Education and the House Committee on Education are both currently discussing the bill. Most recently, the House Committee on Education met to discuss the bill on February 5th. 

Interested in more?

Our friends over at Hunger Free VT are leading the charge. They’ve created a website specifically for the Universal Meals bill. They’ve also made a factsheet with more detailed info on what the bill proposes. 

Want to talk with your local representative? Easily look up your local Senators and Representatives here!

A New Back to School Look for Leland & Gray

If you visit the Leland & Gray Union Middle & High School cafeteria this fall, you might notice a new back to school style.

This summer when the kids went on break their Seed2Tray team went to work. Food Service Director, Chris Parker, wanted to create a fun space for the school community to enjoy their meals for the 2019-2020 school year. First, they gave their kitchens a deep cleaning, and lots of coats of paint. Then turned their focus to the Leland & Gray cafeteria.

“The cafeteria had spent years looking grey and dull, so we recruited the art teacher, Suzanne Paugh from Newbrook Elementary,” says Chris. “She had been the leader on our makeover at Newbrook last year, and I knew I needed her for this project.” Suzanne worked with the incoming 5th and 6th graders to achieve an industrial/graffiti art feel—and the kids were very excited to be a part of such a large project that would impact their school. They created the signs for each station, then painted them before Chef Chris took them back to his woodshop for the finishing touches.

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The Seed2Tray team worked hard throughout the school year to get to this point. They applied for a mini grant through Food Connects for a new salad bar, generously donated by Entera Catering. The receipt of the salad bar allows the team to provide a wider variety of options for students to make delicious salads. Chris also worked hard to ensure that Universal Meals were added to the budget for the 2019-2020 school year for the entire school district.

Now school is here, the time they all worked so hard to prepare for. “We are excited to see our students and show them their new cafeteria. They are now welcomed by a new hot line, a new salad bar, a pizza bar, and a sandwich bar complete with panini press. The best part is that every student in Jamaica Village, Townshend, Leland & Gray, and Newbrook will ALL EAT FOR FREE.”

Thanks to the entire Seed2Tray team for their hard work to make schools meals welcoming and delicious. Be sure to follow them on Instagram at Seed2Tray.

Celebrating Farm to Summer

Our Farm to School Team: Sheila & Kate

Our Farm to School Team: Sheila & Kate

FRUITS OF OUR LABOR
With the school year wrapped up and summer in full swing, Food Connect’s (FC) Farm to School team is switching gears! Before jumping into summer programming, we reflected on what we accomplished during the school year. We continue to be inspired by the progress our member schools are making in their Farm to School efforts. In fact, this school year:

  • 7 new schools created Farm to School action plans

  • 75% of FC member schools report significant progress was made on their action plan 

  • 77 educators participated in Farm to School professional development 

  • 6 schools received new funding for farm to school programming 

  • 89% of FC member schools were able to better integrate the “3 C’s of Farm to School” (classroom, cafeteria, community)

Farm to School programs are positively impacting the local economy by helping to reduce childhood hunger. 

  • This year, local food purchasing by FC member schools increased by 43%! We know that for every dollar spent on local, 60 cents goes back to the local economy. 

  • Nearly half of FC member schools saw an increase in breakfast and lunch participation by free and reduced students this year. Some of this can be attributed to new programming such as Breakfast After the Bell and Universal Meals. 

  • Over 100 community organization and school staff received professional development to improve Farm to School programming.

NOURISHING OUR COMMUNITY

We are eager to stay connected to students and families throughout the summer when local farms are bursting with fresh produce. This summer, we will run two programs, including our Summer Garden Program and a new Local Food Taste Testing Program in collaboration with Retreat Farm

  • The Summer Garden Program includes garden support for 5 local schools, ensuring that the gardens are healthy and ready to harvest come September. Tara Gordon, Green Street School Garden Coordinator, will lead summer programming at all 5 schools this year. 

  • Local Food Taste Testing, led by Keene State College Dietetic Intern Carissa Brewton, will take place on Fridays throughout the summer at Retreat Farm, in conjunction with Summer Meals—free meals provided to students under the age of 18. Swing by the farm to sample fun foods and participate in Farm to School activities with your little ones. 

PLANTING NEW SEEDS

Our Farm to School team is looking forward to piloting some new and innovative projects this fall. Sheila Humphreys, Food Connect’s Farm to School Coordinator, will be exploring connections between the Farm to School and Trauma Informed approaches to education this fall with WSESU educators and other school-based staff. She will partner with VT Trauma Informed expert, Joelle Van Lent, to host a day-long training for school counselors, nurses, behavior specialists, and food service professionals. This project is funded by the Thomas Thompson Trust and will span three years. Year two of the project will focus on creating cafeteria settings that are comfortable, peaceful, and conducive to making good food choices and year three will include work around youth engagement in farm to school programming. 

This summer, Food Connects is preparing for its 5th Annual Farm to School Conference. With lots of new staff coming on board over the past two years, we took a break from organizing this event. But, this year WE ARE BACK! The conference will take place in April and will include an array of wonderful workshops on topics such as curriculum integration, marketing, cooking with kids, parent engagement, and more! Stay tuned for details. 

Much of this summer will be dedicated to planning for the next school year. We have lots of great information to digest from our spring stakeholder survey and plenty of qualitative feedback to keep us energized and inspired. One of our favorite quotes was, “Food Connects is awesome. You guys are all over the map with the ways you support our district’s Farm to School efforts, and as we have said before, the most important thing you give us is a sense of friendship and community - a bunch of absolutely great people all working on a little piece of this food system revolution”. Viva la revolution! 

Universal Meals Making Lunches Accessible

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In the Southern Connecticut Valley Region, 1 in 7 children lives in a food insecure household. For these children, in particular, school meals are an important resource during the week. While many qualify for free or reduced meals at school, families don’t always take advantage of this program. Despite the hard work that had been done by schools and the community organizations that support them, schools still face the challenge of overcoming stigma when it comes to reduced-price meals. For this reason, a number of local schools now offer Universal Free School Meals, a federally funded provision that allows schools to offer meals at no cost to families. This program helps schools to maximize funds, reduce paperwork, improve nutrition and ultimately, eliminate stigma. Participating schools in the Connecticut River Valley include Academy School, Oak Grove School, Green Street School, Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS), Brattleboro Area Middle School, NewBrook Elementary School,  Charlestown Primary School, and Winchester Public Schools.

Nationwide, school meal participation hovers between 50 and 60 percent. At schools where meals are offered free to all students, participation generally increases. One such example is Oak Grove School in Brattleboro—73% of students participate in school lunch. According to Hunger Free Vermont,

“Universal Free School Meals is a model that allows all students to eat school meals for free. This allows the school to build the meal program into the overall curriculum, creating a learning lab for healthy eating and a mealtime experience where every kid is equal and enjoys their meals together. Studies show that universal free school meal programs increase participation, leading to better student health and learning AND a strong school meals business. When participation is up, school meal programs have more resources to invest in even higher quality food, including local many local foods. Universal free school meals models are good for students, good for schools, and good for Vermont's local economy.”

Universal School Meals is a smart idea for a number of reasons. First, it allows food service professionals to get back to the most important part of their job—cooking! Universal Meals programming helps get cooks back in the kitchen by significantly reducing the amount of paperwork a school meal program must submit to the federal government each month. Second, Universal Meals reduces stigma by taking away the categories of free, reduced, and full-pay students—reducing student hunger and improving student nutrition. Lastly, a well-run Universal Meals program will eventually result in more stable program finances for that school, which in turn allows food service professionals to source better ingredients, including locally grown and made products. In fact, the Brattleboro Town School District was able to purchase more than $10,000 worth of local food from Food Connects Food Hub last school year. This included products like yogurt, apples, berries, granola, potatoes, and other vegetables.

Universal Meals has been very successful at all of the aforementioned schools. Steve Perrin, principal at Brattleboro Union High School, confirms that Universal Meals had been an improvement to their meal program as well. He says, “In the time we've implemented Universal Meals at BUHS, we've seen a significant increase in the number of meals served, both for breakfast and lunch. The overall response from families has been very supportive and we've had several parents thank us for taking this step. I'm grateful that our school board and central office staff see this as a priority.  It is a simple fact that if we're hungry, we can't learn as well. This program directly benefits our students who have food insecurity.”

Food insecurity impacts students year-round, not just during the school year. All families should know that there are a variety of food and meal resources available when school is not in session, including community meals, food shelves, and fresh food drops. Visit vermont211.org or www.211nh.org for more information on food resources in Vermont. Many of these resources are available year-round and some have specific eligibility requirements.