Kathy Goldman and Universal School Meals

I attended the Food Bank's Conference on Hunger and Poverty yesterday in Manhattan and heard from a legendary activist in a session called "Eat to Learn," which focused on efforts through the New York City Schools to ensure that all children, especially the poor, have healthy and plentiful menu options for both breakfast and lunch. The speaker was Kathy Goldman, who, in fact, turned 81 yesterday and whose tireless efforts to feed the hungry in New York City led to the establishment of the Food Bank 30 years ago. The Food Bank has no peer in actively and successfully addressing the needs of hungry people, as it serves 400,000 free meals in New York City every day. And Kathy Goldman has no rival when it comes to protecting the interests of the poor and hungry. She has been doing this work since 1965 and has remained active as Director of the Community Food Resource Center until 2003 and most recently as the Co-Director of Community Food Advocates, inc. She is also one of the country's leading advocates for the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) better known as Food Stamps. In September, the White House proclaimed her a "Champion of Change."

Now, as Co-Director of Community Food Advocates, she is collaborating with Agnes Molnar to achieve one last great victory for food insecure children. She and Ms. Molnar want to pass legislation that would establish a "Universal School Meals" Program, which would ensure that every public school student has free, unfettered access to delicious and healthy school meals. You might wonder why such a program is necessary given the fact that we already have a free lunch program for all low-income children in the United States. The problem is that many eligible children do not take advantage of this program, primarily because of the stigma associated with officially declaring oneself poor or in need. Additionally, the application process is often a barrier to families who find such paperwork confusing or challenging. Universal School Meals would eliminate all paperwork and bureaucracy and the burdensome eligibility requirements that now stand between youth who want to eat but are too proud or perplexed to sign up. Given Kathy Goldman's commitment and persistence, my money is on Ms. Goldman. But in the meantime, I also hope Wagner College students can play their part as civically engaged community activists to ensure that this critical legislation is finally signed into law.