Not Your Sweetie

A Lunch Lady on School Lunches
Posted on DU, by Tikki



...I am purposely not going to tell which of these students
were or were not on
'free' or 'reduced' lunch....what I am going to tell you is the
reality of young
growing students and their nutritional and caloric needs.

I was a public school 'lunch lady' for 10 years.

The doors to the cafeteria open, and in the line of students
waiting outside on a
cold afternoon....a 14 year old boy 'passes-out' the second he
smells the food
from the kitchen. He was very hungry......and until you have
seen this happen, you
may not really understand.

Two sixth graders go from table to table asking for anyone's
uneaten bread and
peanut butter spread...they take it out to the playground and
share with a 'new
girl' in school.

Buffet style lunch every Thurday and the first trays that empty
are those with the
fresh fruit and cooked corn. Next comes the bread........the
pudding and jello trays
are, often, hardly touched.

Just your average teen students.... ..I have seen many of them
eat the equivalent
of three prepared meals at one sitting.

I have seen students grow 5 or 6 inches in a matter of months.

I remember when Reagan wanted to qualify 'ketchup' as a
vegetable. I remember
when a former student introduced me to his new wife...and
said..'This was the lady
who made sure I was always eating good. I was as proud of that,
as if I had been
his 'football' coach.

Yes, mistakes can be made...some adults allow their children to
cheat the
sysytem......most don't. Yes, I have seen students throw their
food away, but most
do not.

Cafeteria staff's plan menus, portion control and product count
carefully and there
is actually very little waste.

I would never turn down a growing student's request for a meal
......because for,
whatever, reason......they asked and they needed to eat.