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Cafeteria serving healthy alternatives
Imagine you are sending your first grader off to school this morning and you do not have enough money to buy her a snack. All of the other students have snack time with a snack during their school day. This happens each and every day in the East Penn School District. Everyone wants to be the same as their peers, have similar clothes. similar shoes, etc but the difference between feeling better about things and making your day better comes when your tummy is full.
Snack time at school means everyone pulls out the snack(s) Mom or Dad sent with them this morning. Consider this... you do not have a snack....how do you feel as a child? You go home after school and you have nothing to eat, You have to wait until the next morning to get your next meal (at School) because, whatever the circumstances, you do not have anything to eat at home.
Does this make you more productive at home or at school? My guess is probably not. And then the school week is over and you fear the next meal you will probably have is Monday morning at school. What do you do on the weekend or in the summer when school is not in session?
As Rotarians, we determined that there is a need for help for some of our children. We have met one time with the Superintendent of the East Penn School district and formed an unlikely alliance between all of the service organizations in the East Penn Area. The Lions, Lionness, Kiwanis and the Masons together with Emmaus Rotary are looking into ways we can help these children feel better about themselves and have a good meal when they need it. We will meet with Kristen Campbell again this Friday as a group to get a better direction for our alliance. This is not a one and done type of scenario.
This is an ongoing battle about having healthy children become good citizens because they had the proper nutrition to listen, learn and excel. We are on an exciting journey, creating alliances between services organizations, pooling resources to help the youth of our schools in East Penn. If you are like me and would like to help please reach out to Steve, Cindy or myself and let's start the ball rolling in the right direction.
Yours in Service ,
Rick Zayaitz