(first published on WIvoices.org)
Meg Farrington (29-year veteran teacher from Somerset, WI) explains that some students are struggling with hunger in school and how teachers have “stepped up to the plate” to bridge the gap and fill the need in the community. Farrington said “because of Governor Walker’s cuts” at the state level, consequences in policy choices have become reality for the most vulnerable children in rural Wisconsin.
For instance, public school districts have a cooperative agreement with social services to feed hungry children through a “backpack program” in which children are given food to take home over the weekend. I contacted Duana Bremer (local Director of Social Services) for comment, “the demand keeps going up and everything is more difficult”. Her crew packs over 900 backpacks/week for hungry children and issued a press release detailing the need in the community. Before this backpack program, teachers and nurses reported that some children were “begging” for food, experiencing stomach issues, and were “agitated” and unable to learn due to hunger related issues. The backpack program eliminated these issues; however, due to budget cuts the program is now threatened.
WIvoices.org previously interviewed Bremer, on July 30, 2011 about this issue. At that time, Bremer worried that the backpack program would suffer due to the cuts at the state level. According to Farrington, this has come to fruition as every couple of weeks “there is no food left for the backpack program…so the teachers (help with) that.”
Wanna help? Contact Duana Bremer @ 715-485-1221
duana_bremer@usc.salvationarmy.org
Stay tuned for Farrington’s entire verbatim interview ~ to be released.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Ann Nichols
Lynette Stark
Chicago Guy
Daniel Geery
Desnee Flakes
Chauncey DeVega
Salon.com
Comments
Incidentally, years ago, I spent sometime in WI, and to my dismay and surprise, I found many of those right wing nuts who vote against their self-interest. Thank you, Heidi, for bringing this up. R
No child can do well in school when they're too hungry to concentrate. Good nutrition is absolutely essential for children if they're to grow up healthy and reach their maximum potential.
Makes me want to force Scott Walker to empty his larder to these kids. Every day. AND pass out food to each child. I know that hunger exists everywhere, but he definitely contributed to the problem you're reporting in Wisconsin.
rated
Ardee ~ like a farmer, John Shaffer, said in an earlier interview, "being pro-life should mean that you care about clothing, education, and feeding the child...that's what it should mean to be pro-life."
Daniel ~ I honestly don't know.
What is going on in this country?
Rated.
Just an idea, but how about setting up a food donation box at the State Capital building, if they aren't going to solve the problem legislatively, then they can start bringing canned goods to the office to donate.
I looked up what the NEA is doing, nadda. Apparently it is up to the individual states to set up and maintain their own backpack programs.
Thus, a big empty box needs to sit inside the capital rotunda. I wonder how many days/weeks/months it would take to fill it?
Keep the faith Heidi, keep the faith.
I wish I could help, but I am sinking fast myself...
The garbage that passes for food in schools - ketchup is a vegetable - should be reason enough for parents not to want it.
It's always great to see "compassionate" conservatives weighing in on poverty issues. Now that you've said your piece, shouldn't you be off somewhere evicting grandmothers?
Were you by chance deprived of your mother's milk? Walker has slashed many from the social safety net. He must have missed you.
School food is garbage. The Government considers pizza a vegetable because it has tomato paste on it.
If parents can't afford food they can apply for supplemental assistance and feed their children better at home. Junior can eat all the fries and pizzas he wants for lunch but I don't k.ow why any parent would want their kids to eat crappy school food. If you've ever read what gets served its worse than what people in prison or hospitals get.
How to sign up for SNAP in each state; although it's a federal program, each state has its own application: SNAP by state
Where is Michelle Bachman when you need her?
so one came recently from Scott Walker....(!)
It made me think of you...
Dear Friend,
This is it. The Wisconsin Recall election is less than four weeks away.
The liberal special interests and Washington insiders have sworn to spend tens of millions of dollars to defeat me. I need your help right now to beat back this senseless Recall. Will you stand with me today?
For more than a generation in Wisconsin, the power of special interests and the liberal elite have gone largely unchecked. My Administration finally stood up to them, and we changed the way we do things in government in Wisconsin.
That’s why my opponents are so desperate to defeat me in this Recall. They want to roll back the clock and take us back to the days of skyrocketing taxes, bloated budgets, and unchecked and unaccountable spending. We cannot let that happen.
The moment I became Governor, I set about the work that the people of Wisconsin sent me to do. We eliminated the deficit left by my Democrat predecessor. We gave the freedom of choice to public employees. Our reforms have allowed public employees to decide if they would like to spend (in some cases more than a thousand dollars a year in dues) or keep their hard earned money. We finally put the control of state government back where it belongs, in the hands of the people.
I kept my promises to the voters here in Wisconsin. I didn’t raise taxes. We have not had massive lay offs of state workers. Our reforms have balanced the budget and lowered the unemployment rate to a level unseen since 2008.
Now I need you to help me tell the out-of-state special interests that we do not want another tax-and-spend liberal in charge here in Wisconsin.
This Recall is not just about Wisconsin, it is about the cause of reform across this country
It goes on...by the way, that's not made up. That's the real thing.
Crazy how differently words/language can be used by those with different agendas.
Thank-you for this great post that shows the emotions/heart of those struggling to stand up for themselves politically. Excellent work, Heidi....