Koi Boynton, Healthy Roots Coordinator provided us with this reminder:
As the school year gets underway, we wanted to share this valuable resource page from Hunger Free VT that can help you ensure that all eligible kids are eating school meals for free.
In our district, only St. Albans City School can provide universal school meals through Community Eligibility Provision or Provision 2. For the other schools it is important to make sure as many families as possible complete and return the school meal application. There are many benefits to conducting outreach around the school meal application: schools with at least 50% of students qualifying for free school meals are eligible to serve free summer meals to all children 18 and under. Title I funding is also tied to your school's free/reduced rate. Students receiving free school meals qualifying for reduced fees for college entrance tests like the SAT and ACT, as well as Advanced Placement testing.
Ensuring as many students as possible are enrolled in your school's nutrition program means there's more opportunity to leverage federal reimbursement to support farm to school initiatives in your cafeteria, as well as bringing everyone to the table.
Email: kboynton@nmcinc.org