July 26, 2023
Free School Lunches Kept Millions of Kids Fed During the Pandemic. Why Stop Now?
By Peter Lucas
In North Carolina, the ending of the Covid-era federal meals program devastated low-income communities–and legislators have been slow to face the crisis.
(SolStock / Getty)
From her small apartment in Durham, N.C., Marcella Thompson prepares healthy meals and groceries for the dozens of families that struggle to put food on the table in her neighborhood.
“They can’t afford to buy it for their families, [so] farmers give us organic produce,” said Thomspon. “They have fruit, they have blueberries, they have strawberries, they [have] melons and greens and potatoes and so parents are able to give their kids nutritious meals.”
The Mustard Seed Project receives donations of locally grown fruit and vegetables, which they distribute in grocery bags to families. Recently, Thompson has also started to bring in treats to local neighborhoods, with food trucks and live music. “[We’re] able to take an ice cream truck, take a band, have nutrition meals, and play the music, go out into the complex and the children will come out, get their meals, go back in their [houses] and we move onto the next complex.”
