W P A Hot School Lunch Project 



By Ruth Fillingham, Rural Schools Chairman, 

 Illinois Home Bureau 



^ 



OROTHY THOMPSON, well serving done at the childrens desks, 

 known writer, said recently The cost of equipment, pans, kettles, 

 ■'If a child is entitled to eight stoves, etc., may be nominal or very 



high, — the only requirement is that 

 it be adequate for preparing and serv- 

 ing the meal. 



Since the variety of commodities 

 available is limited and varies greatly 

 from month to month, it is necessary 

 to supplement these in order to pre- 



years of schooling, he ought, it seems 

 to me, to be entitled to eight years of 

 nutrition." 



Evidently many government officials 

 had already reached the same conclu- 

 sion for last year the government 

 worked out a plan whereby the schools. 



cooperating with the Work Projects pare adequate meals. It is the respon- 



Administration, could use Federal sur- 

 plus commodities for the nutrition of 

 our school children. 



If you should happen to stop for 

 a visit in any one of many rural 

 schools in Illinois you might be struck 

 by the absence of dinner pails and 

 puzzled by the tantalizing odor of de- 

 licious food. But if you investigated 

 you would find that the teacher and 

 the parents in the community were 

 sufficiently interested in seeing that the 

 children had the advantage of an ade- 

 quate hot meal at noon to set up a 

 School Lunch Project and get surplus 

 commodities with the help of the WPA 

 and Illinois Emergency Relief. 

 All Schools Eligible 



The project is available to all rural 

 schools and operates about the same 



sibility of the local committee to pro- 

 vide for that. In some cases the school 

 board appropriates the necessary funds, 

 in some it is provided by donations, 

 but in many instances the money is 

 raised by some local activity, such as 

 a school entertainrpent. 



Workers Are Examined 



The WPA workers assigned for pre- 

 paration of these meals are given a 

 complete physical examination, includ- 

 ing a blood test. Then thev are care- 

 fully trained in the preparation and 

 serving of the proper foods. Their 

 menus are prepared for them at least 

 two weeks in advance by the super- 

 vising home economist, and are based 

 on the commodities they expect to have 

 available for distribution. 



However, this worker must be ca- 



in all communities. The school board pable of making the proper substitu- 

 provides adequate space and equipment tion in case the commodities distrib- 

 for the preparation and serving of the uted are not what they expected them 

 food. The space may be an entire to be. The workers are furnished 

 basement, with tables for serving, or uniforms and hairnets by the WPA. 

 it may be just a cloak-room with the These must be kept clean by the work- 



ers themselves. Standards of sanitation 



are set up and insp>ections made from 

 time to time to see that these standards 

 are met. The workers are also re- 

 quired to submit an accurate report on 



Division Fences 



(Continued from page 30) 

 the value of the fence or the share 

 which each owner should bear, they 

 may call in the fence viewers, or the 

 aggrieved party may bring the action 

 before a justice of the peace. 



In interpreting this section, the 

 courts have said that an adjoining land- 

 owner is bound to maintain his share 

 of the partition fence, and that he 

 cannot escape this duty unless he 

 chooses to let his lands lie without 

 cropping or using them for farm pur- 

 poses. An action may be taken, un- 

 der the provision of this act, to com- 

 f>el the building of a fence by one 

 obligated to share in the division fence. 

 Similarly, one who lets his part of a 

 division fence fall into disrepair may 

 be compelled to repair it. 



all commodities received and used. 

 Last summer many schools carried on 

 a garden project also. The gardens 

 were either on* or adjecent to the school 

 grounds and cared for mostly by the 

 workers. This not only provided fresh 

 vegetables for use in the menus during 

 the Spring and Fall but also provided 

 vegetables for canning and for storage. 



The shelves in the Buckles school 

 basement in Jackson county were filled 

 with jars of canned corn, tomatoes, 

 green beans, beets, sauerkraut, wild 

 blackberries and apples when we 

 stopped there on our tour of Southern 

 Illinois rural schools. The apples had 

 been donated by a local farmer. The 

 vegetable bins were filled with carrots, 

 sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and tur- 

 nips. The menu for one day was but- 

 tered potatoes, green beans, head let- 

 tuce, gingerbread muffins with apple- 

 sauce, bread and butter, and milk. 

 10,000 Children Fed 



If the school board and committee 

 do not wish to provide equipment and 

 food sufficient to serve an adequate 

 meal they may use the project to pro- 

 vide one hot dish. 



Last summer more than 378,000 

 quarts of fruits and vegetables were 

 canned for school lunches either in 

 county canning centers or in the local 

 school kitchen. 



During the past year 10,000 Illinois 

 school children enjoyed these hot 

 lunches. This project is now operating 

 in some schools, city and village as well 

 as rural, in approximately 35 counties, 

 serving more than 35,000 children; it 

 is hoped that before school closes next 

 Spring at least 280,500 children will 

 be benefiting from it. There is in 

 St. Paul, Minnesota a WPA Hot School 

 Lunch Testing Kitchen constantly test- 

 ing new recipes using surplus foods. 



Thus the WPA Hot School Lunch 

 Project assists in the conservation of 

 our greatest national assets, our chil- 

 dren, by using some of our commod- 

 ities to build healthier, happier future 

 citizens. 



HOT LUNCH AT THE BUCKLES SCHOOL 

 Iar« ei canned com, tomatoes, green beona. beets, sauerkraut, wild blackberries 

 and apples; also carrots, sweat potatoes, Irish potatoes and turnips in the bins. 



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