Florida Nonprofit Fights Childhood Hunger Through School Vending

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- A new nonprofit organization is determined to make food available to schoolchildren whose access to traditional school meals is constrained by time and facilities. Feed More Kids proposes to provide the technology, including vending machines, to enable schools to serve healthy breakfast, lunch and (soon) dinner meals quickly, and benefit from often-untapped federal reimbursable school meals program funds.

"The apple for the teacher has been replaced by the teacher giving out protein bars as more than half of our students come from low-income families and aren't getting enough to eat at home," one teacher told the group.

According to FMK, 51% of public school students nationwide are in low-income brackets that qualify them for discounted or free school meals. But only 33% participate, because mealtimes are too short and, perhaps, a stigma may be attached to free meals.

"Food is available," said Art Dunham, a retired school foodservice administrator who chairs Feed More Kids. "The school leaders and foodservice professionals are doing everything possible, but could you serve 2,000 or more kids who descend on your cafeteria and only during a 20-minute lunch period? That is the situation in schools all across our country."

Hungry kids are unable to focus, exhibit behavioral issues both in school and out, and are less healthy, FMK pointed out. The challenge is to find ways of delivering USDA-approved meals in seconds, based on creative menus and appealing presentation, tied into reliable refrigeration technology and accounting framework. Thus, the Feed More Kids team is starting with fast, dependable machines that dispense reimbursable school meals to close the gap between available food and limited time.

Moreover, a recent newspaper article explained that schools are becoming the last frontier for hungry kids who have nowhere else to go for a meal. There are, in general, only 180 days in a school year. When school is the only source of a good meal, there are 185 days when youngsters must do without.

"We know that people in these communities want to help, but the dilemma is delivering the food to the kids and making it work for the current school systems," Dunham reported.

To address this growing problem, Feed More Kids was founded by a diverse group of Floridians who spent decades watching the number of hungry kids in his schools increase exponentially.

"The situation has gotten to a critical place and yet a solution is right here," said vending industry veteran Joe Gilbert, who serves on the FMK board. "Testing pressure has meant the lunch period is down to just one period, on average just 20 minutes long. That means a kid has to get from class, to his or her locker and maybe the bathroom, grab something to eat and then get to the next class, all in 20 minutes."

"There's nothing like seeing 2,000 kids all come rushing toward a school cafeteria, when they are hungry and know they only have minutes to get in line in the school cafeteria," Dunham recalled. "The passion and great efforts of school foodservice staff aside, it's just impossible to feed all the kids, given the restraints.

"Not that long ago, our job was to serve a nutritious lunch," he added. "Today there is a need to serve breakfast and dinner too, on days when school is not in session as well as when it is."

The problem can be stated simply. Kids are hungry and will eat, if given the opportunity. But today's school lunch periods average 20 minutes in the average six-hour school day. Food is available; it's delivery is the major challenge. Communities and individuals want to be part of the solution, but existing school resources too often can't keep up with demand.

Gilbert, well known in the workplace refreshments industry for his long career in equipment distribution, also has had experience as a caterer. "I asked myself: why not vending machines? All over the world, vending serves hungry people. We can use them to serve healthy food to hungry kids in less than 20 seconds, right here in the U.S.A.," he said.

For this reason, Feed More Kids is working with school nutritionists, chefs, community and business leaders, parents, and others who want to help solve the problem quickly, Gilbert explained.

"The issue is one of coordination, to bring together the community -- food suppliers, farmers, chefs, concerned leadership, local businesses, philanthropists and others -- who know if we don't step up and offer a hand right now, the next generation will not be fit to lead a business, for military duty or even to get a college degree so they can teach others," Gilbert emphasized.

"We feed the world with what we produce in the U.S., now we need to Feed More Kids, our kids in our schools. No kid should be hungry if food is available," said Gilbert. "We can make food available 24/7/365, dispensed in less than 20 seconds through a refrigerated machine full of healthy and beautiful food."

The program is described at feedmorekids.com. Information on what others are doing at present to assist in eradicating contemporary childhood hunger may be found at reimbursablemeals.com.