Feed the Kids of Talbot County
Tax deductible
A Hungry child should always get a good nutritious meal.
We want to make sure that any child in the Talbot County School system can enjoy a decent school meal.
Imagine YOU are a young student living in poverty in Talbot County, MARYLAND. You may qualify for a reduced-price meal at school but you don’t have the co-pay of $.20 for breakfast or $.30 for lunch. Maybe you haven’t had the money for weeks. The result? It often means not only incurring debt but humiliation as you are served an “alternative” meal (such as a cold cheese or PB&J sandwich) or perhaps have your hand stamped or given a wrist band to indicate non-payment. This kind of stigmatization at a vulnerable age is enough to deter even the youngest from seeking a meal at all - and that’s the crux of the problem. In Talbot County, 47% of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. It was recently reported that at least 2,000 young people go to sleep at night in Talbot County - Hungry!
We saw a recent survey that showed a number of questionable practices with meal debt in Maryland Schools. They not only included serving low-cost alternative meals but at least three school districts punished students with meal debt by restricting their participation in extracurricular activities or barring access to student records or report cards. All school systems should strive to enact effective meal charge policies which can ensure the cafeteria is a positive environment for all students to receive the nutritional support they need with the compassion and dignity they deserve.
While we can appreciate that some Maryland school districts face financial challenges, surely matters of student meal debt can be worked out between administrators and guardians directly without involving students. Last year, the Maryland General Assembly approved a measure that makes the state responsible for students’ shares of reduced-price meals, but this will not go into effect for several more years.
Why treat students this way? To recover 20 or 30 cents a day? What these practices ignore is that too many students in the state are food insecure. During the past school year, there were 333,000 students in all of Maryland eligible for free meals and another 51,000 who qualified for reduced-price meals. There are more students who are qualified but have never signed up and they end up being treated like slackers or freeloaders in a state that can well afford to feed its school children. An inability to pay for meals may be the first warning sign of a family struggling financially.
Hungry kids aren’t prepared to learn but kids who are regularly humiliated aren’t going to be effective students either.
This is why I have set up this GO FUND ME page to pay off this year’s debt of $4,454.73 (as of December 02, 2019). We will be making a contribution of $3,000.00 to the Talbot County Schools through the TCPS Education Foundation/Mid-Shore Community Foundation. We still have more to pay - school is not over until June. All funds received through this campaign will be applied directly to the debt. Additional funds will be applied to next year’s debt.
Donations to Feed the Kids of Talbot County can be made through this Go Fund Me campaign or directly through the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. If donating through the mscf.org website, please write Feed the Kids of Talbot County in the box in Step #4. Checks can be mailed to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation at 102 East Dover Street, Easton, MD 21601. Please write Feed the Kids of Talbot County in the memo section of your check.
The Feed the Kids of Talbot County Fund is a component fund of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, a public 501(c)(3) charity. Contributions to the Fund support the project’s mission to reduce or eliminate student meal debt in Talbot County Public Schools and are fully tax-deductible as allowable by law. A copy of MSCF’s financial statement is available at mscf.org or by calling [phone redacted]. Information about MSCF submitted under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act can be obtained from the office of the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401.
DONATE NOW…It will only take a few seconds.
WE ARE GRATEFUL for your GENEROUS DONATIONS.
Help Feed the Kids of Talbot County.
We want to make sure that any child in the Talbot County School system can enjoy a decent school meal.
Imagine YOU are a young student living in poverty in Talbot County, MARYLAND. You may qualify for a reduced-price meal at school but you don’t have the co-pay of $.20 for breakfast or $.30 for lunch. Maybe you haven’t had the money for weeks. The result? It often means not only incurring debt but humiliation as you are served an “alternative” meal (such as a cold cheese or PB&J sandwich) or perhaps have your hand stamped or given a wrist band to indicate non-payment. This kind of stigmatization at a vulnerable age is enough to deter even the youngest from seeking a meal at all - and that’s the crux of the problem. In Talbot County, 47% of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. It was recently reported that at least 2,000 young people go to sleep at night in Talbot County - Hungry!
We saw a recent survey that showed a number of questionable practices with meal debt in Maryland Schools. They not only included serving low-cost alternative meals but at least three school districts punished students with meal debt by restricting their participation in extracurricular activities or barring access to student records or report cards. All school systems should strive to enact effective meal charge policies which can ensure the cafeteria is a positive environment for all students to receive the nutritional support they need with the compassion and dignity they deserve.
While we can appreciate that some Maryland school districts face financial challenges, surely matters of student meal debt can be worked out between administrators and guardians directly without involving students. Last year, the Maryland General Assembly approved a measure that makes the state responsible for students’ shares of reduced-price meals, but this will not go into effect for several more years.
Why treat students this way? To recover 20 or 30 cents a day? What these practices ignore is that too many students in the state are food insecure. During the past school year, there were 333,000 students in all of Maryland eligible for free meals and another 51,000 who qualified for reduced-price meals. There are more students who are qualified but have never signed up and they end up being treated like slackers or freeloaders in a state that can well afford to feed its school children. An inability to pay for meals may be the first warning sign of a family struggling financially.
Hungry kids aren’t prepared to learn but kids who are regularly humiliated aren’t going to be effective students either.
This is why I have set up this GO FUND ME page to pay off this year’s debt of $4,454.73 (as of December 02, 2019). We will be making a contribution of $3,000.00 to the Talbot County Schools through the TCPS Education Foundation/Mid-Shore Community Foundation. We still have more to pay - school is not over until June. All funds received through this campaign will be applied directly to the debt. Additional funds will be applied to next year’s debt.
Donations to Feed the Kids of Talbot County can be made through this Go Fund Me campaign or directly through the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. If donating through the mscf.org website, please write Feed the Kids of Talbot County in the box in Step #4. Checks can be mailed to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation at 102 East Dover Street, Easton, MD 21601. Please write Feed the Kids of Talbot County in the memo section of your check.
The Feed the Kids of Talbot County Fund is a component fund of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, a public 501(c)(3) charity. Contributions to the Fund support the project’s mission to reduce or eliminate student meal debt in Talbot County Public Schools and are fully tax-deductible as allowable by law. A copy of MSCF’s financial statement is available at mscf.org or by calling [phone redacted]. Information about MSCF submitted under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act can be obtained from the office of the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401.
DONATE NOW…It will only take a few seconds.
WE ARE GRATEFUL for your GENEROUS DONATIONS.
Help Feed the Kids of Talbot County.
Organizer
Art Roberts
Organizer
Easton, MD
Mid-Shore Community Foundation
Beneficiary