Pay The Tray! Erase Debt from Covid-19 Relief
“Students who we see and talk to everyday will suddenly stop getting in the lunch line. Sometimes it’s because a bill went home, other times it’s a change in circumstances. I’ll never forget the day I saw a kid with a tray of pancakes stop and tell us, “I forgot. I’m not allowed to get breakfast anymore because my mom started working.”
Sadly, this quote from a Vermont food service professional reflects the reality of the majority of our school meal programs here and in many parts of the country. Let’s change this!
Seed2Tray, the school food service and nutrition program of the West River Education District (WCSU) is on a mission to wipe out the accumulated meal debt for our neighbors in the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) and we need your help!
Hunger Free Vermont estimates that close to 18,000 children in our state live in food insecure households. The WNESU community is no exception to this statistic. We’re determined to create a safe environment for students to receive equal access to healthy, scratch made food without enduring the financial burden that can be caused by purchasing school meals. We began this mission by eliminating the school meal debt for Vernon Elementary School and we want to help other schools with the opportunity to provide students with the nutrition they depend on and deserve everyday.
The WNESU food service team works hard daily to serve scratch-cooked meals using locally sourced food at their Farm to School Cafe. They believe in empowering their school chefs to create great food experiences that nourish and inspire students so that everyone in their school communities can have access to the very best local food. Last year, the food service team served 26,307 Elementary School Breakfasts and 55,936 Lunches, as well as 18,751 Middle and High School Breakfasts and 37,414 Lunches.
WNESU is currently dealing with a total meal debt in excess of $6,000. If we reach our goal, we’d like to provide future funds for the district, and any remaining funds to help eliminate meal debt at other Windham County Schools that do not have a universal meal program: Guilford Central School, Dummerston School and Wardsboro Elementary.
Please donate what you can. Make sure to leave your mailing address with us so we can give you a token of our appreciation for any donation! We greatly appreciate your help to Pay the Tray and fight to eliminate school meal debt.
Sadly, this quote from a Vermont food service professional reflects the reality of the majority of our school meal programs here and in many parts of the country. Let’s change this!
Seed2Tray, the school food service and nutrition program of the West River Education District (WCSU) is on a mission to wipe out the accumulated meal debt for our neighbors in the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) and we need your help!
Hunger Free Vermont estimates that close to 18,000 children in our state live in food insecure households. The WNESU community is no exception to this statistic. We’re determined to create a safe environment for students to receive equal access to healthy, scratch made food without enduring the financial burden that can be caused by purchasing school meals. We began this mission by eliminating the school meal debt for Vernon Elementary School and we want to help other schools with the opportunity to provide students with the nutrition they depend on and deserve everyday.
The WNESU food service team works hard daily to serve scratch-cooked meals using locally sourced food at their Farm to School Cafe. They believe in empowering their school chefs to create great food experiences that nourish and inspire students so that everyone in their school communities can have access to the very best local food. Last year, the food service team served 26,307 Elementary School Breakfasts and 55,936 Lunches, as well as 18,751 Middle and High School Breakfasts and 37,414 Lunches.
WNESU is currently dealing with a total meal debt in excess of $6,000. If we reach our goal, we’d like to provide future funds for the district, and any remaining funds to help eliminate meal debt at other Windham County Schools that do not have a universal meal program: Guilford Central School, Dummerston School and Wardsboro Elementary.
Please donate what you can. Make sure to leave your mailing address with us so we can give you a token of our appreciation for any donation! We greatly appreciate your help to Pay the Tray and fight to eliminate school meal debt.
Organizer
Alyssa Pelow
Organizer
Brattleboro, VT