The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1920-09-07
HOT LUNCHES FOR
SCHOOL CHILDREN
CAREY T. MILLER, OF UNIVER-
SITY OF IDAHO, TELLS OF
THIS GREAT NEED.

Do yo uknow that there are 6,0O0,-
900 children or one out of every four,
in the United States suffering from
undernourishment, and that 800, 900
children die every year from poor or
deficient food? Not from lack of
food, understand, but improper food.
One line of help for the betterment
of the malnourished child is the hot
lunch at school-either hot dish to
supplement the lunch brought from
home for the entire lunch served at
the school.
The greatest need for the hot lunch
is found in the rural schools. There
are hundreds of children in Idaho who
leave their homes for the school build
ings at 1880 or 500 o'clock in the
morning and do not return home
again until 500 or $50 in the even
ing. They snatch hurried breakfast
in the morning, make the long trip
on the school wagon, or go horse
back or perhaps walk; have a cold
| lunch at noon and make the return
trip home having had no other focd
than cold lunch that probably has
been prepared In hurry.
The children are growing and de-
veloping rapidly in the years from the
first grade to the eighth, but they
cannot progress mentally and physic-
ally if they do not have adequate food.
A cold lunch now and then is not so
bad, but cold lunch five days week,
four weeks a month, eight or nine
months out of the year, grows most
monotonous.
Ask yourself how you would like
l. ,oJ I<x, l.
no warm food inside of you from
early in the morning until late in the
evening. Good school buildings and
adequate equipment and teachers may
be provided, but unless the children
are in good condition for study they
cannot reap the benefits of those fine
things. Many teachers testify to the
fact that the children appear to be in
better physical and mental condition
fo rwork when they have a hot dish
at noon, that the discipline is easier
at the lunch hour and that the chill
dren do better school work in the
afternoon.
Much good work can be done toward
good food habits for the
children by installing the hot school
lunch They learn something about
the kinds of foods that are needed to
make them grow, to build their bones
and teeth, and to keep them warm
and give them energy. AS result
they are more willing to eat the kinds
Of goods that are best for them
In some of the schools in Idaho,
where the hot lunch has been INSTALL
ed the hot dish is served only during
The cold months and discontinued
when the weather is warm in the
pI fol Otborc tho
unch for the entire school term, be-
cause the children want it and the
,eachers and parents believe it is
worth while. :,
The children are eager for the
unch, they feel better because of hav-
ng a hot dish and they like the party
spirit of being served together. They
are only too glad to cooperate, and in
many schools the boys build tables
md cupboards from dry goods boxes
md the girls prepare the hot dishes.
The children have made some attract
We posters illustrating their ideas OF
ne hot school lunch. One concludes
rom the posters and the letters which
he leaders and agents have received
rom the children that the lunch is
cry popular with them and if it were
p to them alone to decide the matter,
here would be unanimous vote for
hot school lunch
The department of agriculture at
Washington states that the hot lunch
yas installed in 1929 schools in the
orth and west states last year
trough the efforts of the home
agents. Some of these
yere in Idaho. The school year of
920-21 should see a great many more
OF lunches installed in the rural
,hools of this state.
If you are asking yourself. How
an we have the hot lunch in our
,hools ?" the problem may be solved
5 follows: If you have farm bu-
Eau and a home demonstration agent
your county, your community may
otain the help of this agent in work
lg out the plans If you have
,unty agent or club leader, consult
lem, and they will make arrange
ents with the home economics de-
,rtment of the university extension
vision at Boise to help you install
e hot school lunch. The method of
FRYING on the work of preparing
i'd serving the lunch is local prob
m and will be worked out for each
hool with the interested parents and
achers of the community
Will the children attending the
hool in your community receive
t dish to supplement their cold
1ches this year? They should, be-
use:
1. 1t helps to improve their men
and physical condition and there
re,
2. 1t enables them to do better
lool work.
B. They learn about the kind of
ID growing children should eat and
l. They learn good manners and
" to cooperate in doing something
the good of all.
Earthquake Shakes Italy.