The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1938-01-07
5000 State School Children
Provided With Hot Lunches
Through 22 WPA Projects

State WPA Administrator Joseph E
Parker recently said that the Montana
work progress administration, as one
of it's little known accomplishments, has
served more than 200. 900 hot lunches
through % projects for the benefit OF
almost 5000 underprivileged school
children.
throughout the United States, he
said he had just been advised, a mllIlon
individual children have beie1lted so
far by WPA's school lunch program,
with so. 900 900 hot, Well-balanced meals
served IN 10000 American schools. Inc
projects also provide employment tor
some $1,000 needy non heaoS OF
families.
According to Ellen S. woodward, as
sistant ADMINISTRATOR IN cllaIge VI LIE
WPA. division Of WOmens n pro1eS-
sional projects. these hot lunches, IN
addition to the obvious benefits OF IN
creasing weight and improving the gen.
eral health of most children served,
have also improved scholastic Stano-
ings. have raised attendance records
in the 10000 schools where projects
have operated and. in one city, at least,
are credited by local police with hay
ing even decreased juvenile delln-
quency.
Concurrent with the depression"
Mrs. Woodward reports, there arose
an acute and widespread condition OF
SlalllULIlUlO1 dllloI1S la ~ NAtA
dren. Even with teachers, parents ana
various civic groups actively cooper
ating, it was impossible to do much
toward solving the problem. At this
point the federal government stepped
in. Offering the services OF unemployed
women, WPA quickly approved school
lunch projects in a majority OF the AZ
states, and at the present time is OPP
Grating in AZ of these and the District
of Columbia"
Teachers from every state III which
the projects have operated, inform
WPA that the hot lunches have bene-
fitted children's health by increasing
five pounds monthly. In Greenville.
South Carolina, a charting system re-
vealed gains of from three to eight
pounds. Minnesota educators n health
officers credit greater concentration IN
classrooms and fewer absences from
schools as directly traceahle to n
projects.
The projects are also credited with
having pointed out to Parent-Teacher
and other groups, the problem of NAH
nutrition among school children. Many
allied undertakings have n u been
started as private charity ventures.
These include milk stations. which pro
vide midmorning lunches for children
suffering most from malnutr1tlon ana
,UTeSCllOOl doVo ~ ooA PSOA 0O
tricts where most children are known
to be leaving home on almost empty
stomachs.
Among other notable things being
accomplished, Mrs: woodward says: are
the formation of good food habits
among children and the learning OF
table manners which will contribute to
their poise and self-respect as they
grow up.
The cost of all this? Although it
varies in accordance with localities,
amount of food donated and quantities
served, the economics of large scale
buying, plus expert planning and the
nonprofit feature, have kept the price
OF hot lunches down to a few cents a
lunch. For that sum, children get a
big bowl of meat and vegetable soup,
or a dish of steaming stew cooked with
vegetables, a glass of milk or cocoa and
a sandwich or slices of buttered bread.
In some schools a cooked dessert or a
piece of fruit is added.
TN terms of dollars and ,entS the
meal is cheap enough, but as a means
of increasing the nations heritage of
healthy, intelligent citizens, its value is
incalculable," states Mrs. woodward.