Feed the birds, but the children...!

Here I am again, watching the news and listening as a lunch lady is being fired for giving away food.

Della Curry of Colo. says that she was fired after being warned about giving away food to hungry children whose parents' accounts had run out of money. These are children who are not eligible for the free lunch program, so when the money in their parents accounts runs out they are given three lunches that are charged to those accounts, after which they are then given a carton of milk and a cheese sandwich, which Della says is not enough. Many of the children resort to tears because they are hungry, and as any parent knows, a hungry child is a miserable child. Della Curry could not in good conscious let children cry for food and not give it to them, especially when she knows that at the end of the day, the food gets thrown away. This is, for this writer, one of the most unbelievable acts that I have heard.

 Cherry Creek School District, you should be ashamed of how you allowed this to happen. In light of all of the negative things that we hear coming out of the schools these days, you should be proud to have such an employee working for the betterment of our children, instead of firing her for something so wonderful. She wanted to make sure that children were fed enough. Isn't that what the world is suppose to be about, taking care of our children, and not worrying about the bottom line. You throw away thousands of these lunches a day. So, you would rather feed the birds at the trash dump rather than the children that represent our tomorrow?

What Lessons Are you Providing
 
Dakota Elementary, think of what you are teaching the children. You tell them to share out of one side of your mouth but then you tell them they can't afford to eat what you are going to throw away at the end of the day. You tell them not to bully each other, but you put them in a frame of mind to be angry by not feeding them properly. This can cause resentments when they are looking at other children eating happily, and it could cause bullying by those children that can afford to eat lunch. As we know, kids can be really insensitive to one another, and Della was teaching them how to give and to look out for the next person in need.  Instead of firing her, she should be given accommodation.

Possible Solutions

However the school district chooses to handle this situation, here is my thought on this. Fire the Principle of Dakota Elementary, put Della in that position, or, send Della to Washington to lobby for better handling of how we feed our children in the school systems. Also, come up with a way to keep from throwing away so much food at the end of the day. There are unopened cartons of milk that could certainly be rounded up and fed to the homeless in our communities. There is too much waste, and not enough common sense being used, at the taxpayers expense.