Our Mission is to prevent student lunch debt, help families erase debt of students being withheld their diploma due to lunch debt.
Feed a Tahomie
Our Mission: To prevent student lunch debt.
Goal: To help any family who was denied free and reduced lunch by providing lunch money directly to their lunch account. Helping erase debt of students being withheld their diploma due to lunch debt.
Plan: To engage with individual community members, small-local businesses as well as corporations to raise funds to prevent student lunch debt and pay off back debt.
Outcomes: Eliminate and prevent student lunch debt. Reduce the burden of food insecurity on young people and families. Empower young people to focus on learning, improve mental capacity, cognitive ability, physical and mental health.
“Every student has the potential to do well in school. Failing to provide good nutrition puts them at risk for missing out on meeting that potential and leads to long-term irreversible damage to cognitive development. However, taking action today to provide healthier choices in schools can help set students up for a successful future full of possibilities.”
Support by the numbers!
The Tahoma School District is an incredible community.
We have exceptional young people who are our top priority and at the center of our values as we seek to empower young people and their families. We seek to eliminate the stress that too many families in every community face – food insecurity.
Per lunchdebt.org, a Washington State based organization working to pay off student lunch debt,
“Children depend on a nutritious lunch to help them through their school day. Although 44% of Washington State school district students are on free or reduced-price meals (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for Washington State report), many students who do not or cannot qualify for these lunches still cannot afford to pay for them. A 2014 federal report found that 39% of districts nationwide hand out cheap alternative meals with no nutritional requirements, and up to 6% refuse to serve students with a lunch debt balance. Sadly, 76% of America’s school districts have kids with school lunch debt.”
Thankfully, Tahoma School District does not deny students lunch and does not “lunch shame” by handing out alternative meals. Every student gets fed.
Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL) income requirements are standardized nationwide. By maintaining a national standard with no considerations for regional needs, a lot of families fall through the cracks in being able to qualify for these life sustaining support systems. Several families in the Tahoma School District applied for FRL and were denied due to not meeting the income requirements. Certainly, many more have chosen to not apply because they do not meet the income requirements, yet still have the need for support. Income does not dictate need. No student or family should have to struggle to pay for school meals.
You can make a difference!
Our Community Impact:
10,000
local households supported
40,000
individual visits to our market
100,000
pledged for emergency financial assistance
500
backpacks for school-aged children
1,000
kids received holiday gifts
