Free Lunches Taken Away

Jenna Marlow

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Last year, to relieve stress from the pandemic, the Universal School Meals Program Act was passed. This act single-handedly changed many lives of students from kindergarten to senior year. While lunch fees being waived by the government does not seem like a big deal, it is. Three dollars and some change do not seem like it would make a difference, but if a child's family is living paycheck to paycheck it means at least two meals a day are taken care of. This is why when the act was not renewed so many children were impacted. As a student whose school is located in a predominantly middle-class area, the effects of the bill not being renewed are still getting worse every day. Even though their family is deemed “comfortable” due to how much they make a year, this can become a burden. However, when all the money is paying bills, students do not have the luxury to wake up and eat a meal or to go sleep with more than air in their stomachs. More and more students are skipping meals and sitting at lunch behind an empty table with only a conversation to keep them full. This is why our president needs to look at the youth in America and ask himself a question, “Could funds be taken from less important areas and put into important issues such as child hunger?” Considering America is the greatest country in the world we may want to make sure we feed our next generation of leaders.