Perusing our church's bulletin for this coming Sunday, I noted the announcement of a special collection to benefit the food pantry at a local elementary school. Here's the list of the most needed items:
- canned fruit
- applesauce
- pasta sauce
- macaroni and cheese
- Pop-tarts
- cereal bars
- pudding
RFK Jr. can't take charge of our government's health priorities soon enough for me!
But you don't want the federal government to control your local food pantry, do you?
Not a private food pantry, certainly. But the federal and state governments already have tremendous influence over what children are fed in schools, and what nutritional standards are promoted. We can do better than Pop-Tarts. What I'm looking for from Kennedy is not dictatorship, but leadership.
I'm curious to see what he might implement in this case. The most nutritious foods are perishable, so to provide that requires much more than a simple donation drive.
You inspire me to try to find out just what kind of a situation this is. From the list, and from the samples displayed at our church of what they want, it sounds as if most of these are snacks available for kids to choose from. But I don't know that. In any case, all students are served both breakfast and lunch at the school, completely free of charge, so why would they want to encourage them to snack on Pop-Tarts? Why would they encourage them to snack at all?
On the other hand, if this is a regular food pantry that happens to work out of the school, why the snack-y junk food? Where are the staples, like tortillas, rice, beans, flour, boxes of pasta to go with the sauce, canned vegetables, boxed milk, peanut butter, soups, canned entrées like chili and stew, oatmeal, unsweetened cereals?
Do you remember observing, with dismay, people bringing boxes of hyper-sweetened cereals in for a food drive at your school? I thought you would be the first to agree that schools should be setting the bar higher.
Yes, I'm interested in what the school uses those items for as well. I did wonder about the call for pasta sauce but not pasta. It looks similar to the End 68 Hours of Hunger program that they have here: food for kids to bring home to eat over the weekend when there is no reliable meal at home. It has to be food that kids can easily prepare and that they want to eat. I'm this case, pop tarts are better than nothing. And the long term solution is very complicated.
I've asked the pastor, who sent me to the guy running the drive. I have yet to hear back from him. I'll let you know if I learn anything interesting. Otherwise—well, the drive is over and I'm going to file this under "The world is crazy but it's not my job to fix everything in it."
I'm curious to see how far RFK Jr. can get in his effort to nudge us towards prioritizing healthier food. He's fighting against both deeply entrenched interests in the other direction, and a culture with different priorities. But I hope he can at least stop the war against small and independent farmers.
I did get a response from the guy in charge. Apparently the school thinks much the way you suggested: Spring break is coming up, and they want kids who are home alone to have something easy for them to eat. The school also stocks staples; this was a specific, extra request for our church to provide. (Though I do question their example of "staples" as "oatmeal, cereal, and instant breakfast.")
It was helpful to get this clarification, but I still think kids whose families are struggling need more good quality food, not less.
