Struggling families depend more on school lunches, By Heather Hollingsworth (AP), March 27, 2010, Washington Post: “For a couple tight weeks after taking in her sixth-grade stepson, Lisa Lewis fretted about how to pay for his school lunches. Unable to find a full-time job, the 37-year-old works part-time at a Kansas City, Kan., daycare, earning minimum wage. On that money alone, she supports herself, her unemployed husband, her stepson and her 11th-grade son. ‘I sometimes cry myself to sleep wondering how I am going to keep my family fed and things like that,’ Lewis said. ‘I’m making it but barely.’ Her worries were eased when she found out she could get government assistance to pay for the younger boy’s meals. Her older son already is part of the subsidized lunch program. In the midst of a blistering recession, more families are flocking to the federal program that gives students free or reduced-priced lunches. Schools are watching for who enrolls in the program because it gives teachers insight into life at home and officials consider it a barometer of poverty…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty