Free lunches at school

[rika60607 215]

You really don't know me. So please don't judge me, I am not judging you, am I? I don't think I did...

Anyway, people do not get much excuses from me.

But, it is well known how economy and politics work. If you sell a product you sell it at one price to people who can pay more and cheaper price to those who can not afford full price. I am not going to exemplify as it is obvious and boring. If you have a large part of population "going under" and struggling to feed themselves... yet you have people who have plenty and are not willing to share... and the first group is far more numerous... you get what? A revolution! You would not like to have communism in the US, would you?

So please buy them out with food stamps and hot meals for kids in school. It is nice to do. It is good for your carma. It saves a rich person's behind and allows them to feel good about themselves. Good. Rich people are needed to. They support arts and science and progress (who needs arts and science when I can not feed my child? Not me! <- this is an example, not MY thought).

You do not want to drive a large mass of people into desperation.

So much for excusing mentality

But excusing mentality aside, the question was, is it worth to keep "free hot meal a day" program? Yes. Even if kid's Mom is getting her nails done.

So, the gov't (read: people) are paying for her kids' food so she can get her nails done so she doesn't do something dangerous and stupid?

See, this is the kind of mentality...not this imaginary woman's...but YOURS rika....the 'excusing' mentality that really winds me up the most.

[britbird 4]

I am all for the hand up rather than hand out idea. However, when it comes to children who obviously have no choice over who their parents are, those of us who can afford to help them out should do so.

For a lot of children the meal they have at school is the only proper meal they have during the day. The answer is not 'well they don't get it during the summers so why are we giving it to them at all', rather it should be how can we help the kids all the time.

Have a look at the most civilized countries around the world and see how they treat their children, elderly, and most needy. I think you'll find the US looks like a loser in comparison. The answer to societal issues is much more complex than 'oh let's stop financing lunch'. Doing that won't put more money on your table or stop the root problems. Only a massive societal change will do that, and to do that people have got to stop looking out for themselves and start looking out for other people. You never know when you might get expensively sick, might miss a mortgage payment, might loose your spouse, might be the victim of a vicious lawsuit...should your children suffer for that? Absolutely not.

Oh, and by the way, isn't it funny how the people who attack single mothers and poor people having kids are also generally the same people who want to ban family planning, sexual education and any mention of abortion?

Edited August 25, 2007 by britbird

[Cassie 8]

I am all for the hand up rather than hand out idea. However, when it comes to children who obviously have no choice over who their parents are, those of us who can afford to help them out should do so.

For a lot of children the meal they have at school is the only proper meal they have during the day. The answer is not 'well they don't get it during the summers so why are we giving it to them at all', rather it should be how can we help the kids all the time.

Have a look at the most civilized countries around the world and see how they treat their children, elderly, and most needy. I think you'll find the US looks like a loser in comparison.

Amen! :thumbs:

[Peikko 1,575]

It's apparantly true, there are people who lack compassion and humanity.

What exactly do you want to do with these people who make you so mad that you are willing to lash out at a programme that helps children? Maybe they should be rounded up and put in a special 'camp' and supervised so that they don't somehow get something that they aren't entitled to?

Pride isn't going to get you very far if you failed to get an education because of your impoverished circumstances.

I don't know, I wouldn't mind so much, but some of these people think they are 'Christians'...

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

Nope I'm not bitter. I've just lived both sides of the economic spectrum that's all. At varying times in my life.

Good fortune can disappear overnite you know, Charles. Given that knowledge, it's best not to let ones 'opinion' turn to judgment.

i'm quite well aware that good fortune is fickle. i've had my checkbook under $1, not even owned a bed to sleep in, and so on. so i've been there and done that.

however, i didn't ask for assistance nor a handout. pride can motivate oneself.

Does it also allow you to forget how close you were to the edge when you managed to claw your way back?

what i remember the most was how my own actions got me in that situation........

Nope I'm not bitter. I've just lived both sides of the economic spectrum that's all. At varying times in my life.

Good fortune can disappear overnite you know, Charles. Given that knowledge, it's best not to let ones 'opinion' turn to judgment.

i'm quite well aware that good fortune is fickle. i've had my checkbook under $1, not even owned a bed to sleep in, and so on. so i've been there and done that.

however, i didn't ask for assistance nor a handout. pride can motivate oneself.

Does it also allow you to forget how close you were to the edge when you managed to claw your way back?

I'm guessing he remembers full well, and knows what 'rewards' he went without to do so.

months without pizza

[rebeccajo 14]

Nope I'm not bitter. I've just lived both sides of the economic spectrum that's all. At varying times in my life.

Good fortune can disappear overnite you know, Charles. Given that knowledge, it's best not to let ones 'opinion' turn to judgment.

i'm quite well aware that good fortune is fickle. i've had my checkbook under $1, not even owned a bed to sleep in, and so on. so i've been there and done that.

however, i didn't ask for assistance nor a handout. pride can motivate oneself.

Does it also allow you to forget how close you were to the edge when you managed to claw your way back?

I'm guessing he remembers full well, and knows what 'rewards' he went without to do so.

Why don't we leave the question to Charles?

[Fandango 1,439]

You really don't know me. So please don't judge me, I am not judging you, am I? I don't think I did...

Anyway, people do not get much excuses from me.

But, it is well known how economy and politics work. If you sell a product you sell it at one price to people who can pay more and cheaper price to those who can not afford full price. I am not going to exemplify as it is obvious and boring. If you have a large part of population "going under" and struggling to feed themselves... yet you have people who have plenty and are not willing to share... and the first group is far more numerous... you get what? A revolution! You would not like to have communism in the US, would you?

So please buy them out with food stamps and hot meals for kids in school. It is nice to do. It is good for your carma. It saves a rich person's behind and allows them to feel good about themselves. Good. Rich people are needed to. They support arts and science and progress (who needs arts and science when I can not feed my child? Not me! <- this is an example, not MY thought).

You do not want to drive a large mass of people into desperation.

So much for excusing mentality

But excusing mentality aside, the question was, is it worth to keep "free hot meal a day" program? Yes. Even if kid's Mom is getting her nails done.

So, the gov't (read: people) are paying for her kids' food so she can get her nails done so she doesn't do something dangerous and stupid?

See, this is the kind of mentality...not this imaginary woman's...but YOURS rika....the 'excusing' mentality that really winds me up the most.

First of all, pls spare me the incorrect lesson in ecomonics....I have a business degree.

Secondly, I don't think I ever addressed the question of school lunches as a whole...what I did was address what *I* see as abuse of the system.

Your response here has nothing to do with what you and I have been talking about...we're talking about subsidizing children's meals while the parents 'treat' themselves. It is not ok for the parent to spend her last $20 on nails when we're payin for her kids because she *might* do something stupid. I don't need to know you to say that I see that as an 'excusing mentality'.

[smoke20 0]

rica...stop you're about to get LISAFIED®

[rebeccajo 14]

"what i remember the most was how my own actions got me in that situation........"

Which probably had more to do with getting you out of it on your own rather than "pride". I call that accountability.

Charles, all I'm saying is this - poverty is rarely 'simple'. For many people, it honestly is NOT their own actions which got them into financial chaos. It was my action - my decision to divorce - that caused me to be in my situation. I took responsibility for that rather than signing Zach up for hot lunch. BUT - if my situation had not improved when it did, I'd have done it. I would have had to.

Sure there are people who abuse the system. Someone mentioned earlier that there are few controls with the 'free lunch' system and from my near-miss with the system I know that to be true. So I'd be in favor of adding safeguards to the system to eliminate that.

[Fandango 1,439]

rica...stop you're about to get LISAFIED®

LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

I need some kind of music to go along with that......

da da da!

[Peikko 1,575]

Wouldn't it be great if the poor behaved like they are meant to?

Oh, happy, happy day. Our tax dollars never wasted because they are all happily working themselves to an early grave, staying at home to look after their kids while at the same time going out to work so they can support them without asking anyone for help while at the same time never, ever spending money on anything but food, shabby clothes as befits their status and somewhere to sleep.

I think I get it now.

[rebeccajo 14]

rica...stop you're about to get LISAFIED®

LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

I need some kind of music to go along with that......

da da da!

How about this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMwdAc1Dzfg

[Fandango 1,439]

rica...stop you're about to get LISAFIED®

LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

I need some kind of music to go along with that......

da da da!

How about this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMwdAc1Dzfg

nah, that's wayyyy too old. But thanks for the effort!

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

"what i remember the most was how my own actions got me in that situation........"

Which probably had more to do with getting you out of it on your own rather than "pride". I call that accountability.

Charles, all I'm saying is this - poverty is rarely 'simple'. For many people, it honestly is NOT their own actions which got them into financial chaos. It was my action - my decision to divorce - that caused me to be in my situation. I took responsibility for that rather than signing Zach up for hot lunch. BUT - if my situation had not improved when it did, I'd have done it. I would have had to.

Sure there are people who abuse the system. Someone mentioned earlier that there are few controls with the 'free lunch' system and from my near-miss with the system I know that to be true. So I'd be in favor of adding safeguards to the system to eliminate that.

for the ones i've met, yes it is their actions - and lack of wisdom afterwards, that causes them to get into that and stay there.

in regards to the loss of job and so on - as we say in the military - those who fail to plan are planning to fail. and should something happen to me (i.e. death) nessa will be pretty well off (i do hope this does not give anyone ideas)

[jodee 30]

This whole topic is really disheartening, and i have read it all,..I was not going to comment but here goes,..

When my girls and I lived in Australia, and I was a single mum, I worked full time, and managed to provide my kids with whatever they needed and never went without. My kids got everything they needed, and when I could afford it sometimes what they wanted. I managed to feed, clothe, house, and medically care for my kids, and they did not stand out from the crowd socially, no one knew, we were a 1 income family. The schools in Australia, do NOT have a school lunch program. You have to either bring your own, or buy it from the canteen. Our canteen lunches were all "heart healthy" lunches, and were monitored by the Government.

Some of the kids used to get breakfast provided, but those children were identified as qualifying for this, and had to requalify every 2 months, by proof of family income. For these children, it was oft the only meal of the day. These meals were provided by local churches and support groups.

My children here, go to an American school here in Germany, and nothing surprised them more to see the hot lunch program, when they started school here. They were so used to taking their lunch..lol.

They have the free lunch/reduced lunch program in place at the school. We qualify for reduced price lunches. We did last year, and do again this year. We didn't use it last year because we managed to squeeze under the compulsory paperwork radar, and never handed it in. My kids were happy taking their lunches, because they said the food offered was shite.

This year they asked us for the paperwork along with the school reenrollment stuff. We were approved for reduced lunches., but whether I choose to use it or not is another thing.

As a family of 4, we had to earn less than 3900 p/m,... Dept of Defence have stricter qualifying limits. Even with all his allowances for fighting this damn war in Iraq, we qualified...without those allowances, we would qualify for free lunches.

My family does not go without, I do not spoil myself with special treats. My children are not spoilt by any means of the imagination. Am I exploiting the system?.. HELL NO!!

DO I have 16 kids,..HELL NO!!

Do I spend $75 a week on a manicure or weave,..HELL NO!!

People are to quick to judge books by their covers....some people need to take a step back, and maybe read a few pages in those books first, before becoming self righteous, and deciding to try and take away, something the Government has decided they are socio-economically entitled to. Like many others have said, dont take the system away,..just control it better so the people that really need it can benefit from it.

Ok,..I dont know if that really added anything, but thats my 2c worth

Jodee