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4-2272
FEDE..'!lAL wo:a..xs .AGENCY
WORK PROJECTS iillMINIS':1:R.ATION
For Rcicase
Sunday, September 21, 1941.
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'WPA PL..lliS EXPANDED SCHOOL LUNCH PROGR.t·\M iIB N.ATION.il, RE~'\LTH MEASURE
Mxs . Florence _Kerr , Assistant i'tPA Com1issionor i n charge of Cor:imuni ty Service projects , announced toclay that the nation- wide school lm1ch
prog,Tan of the Work Projects Ad.ministration is prepa.ring to ser vo more noonday lunches during the new sch9ol -y-ear than ever before dos:pi to tho decrease
in tho nwJbcr of WPA en:ployees .
This will be accomplished., she said, b:,:
Establishment of more central kitchens and bakeries ,
:permitting a smalter number of WPA women ,-m rkers to prepare more
food and distribute it , in many instances , to schools not previously in the program.
Extension of the service to a greater number of chilclren
not classified. as 11 needy, 11 who will pay for their food .
Lengthening the period du~ing which lunches are served
in schools that prev~ously limited the program to the coldest months .
More than 2 , 000 , 000 school childr en wero served daily through WPA at
the peak of the program last winter , and tho total number of school.lunches
prepared by iv.PA workers during tho school year exceeded 200 , 000 , 900 ~
J3oth t h ese
re c ords vnll be surpassed in the school year just beginning, Mrs . Kerr believes ,
with the largest gain, proportionately, in t he total number of lunches served.
Tho prog~am last winter roached about 23, 000 schools in 2 , 400 of tho 3 , 100
counties .
This was an average of 87 children served ~y two or oft en t hroe 'iv.PA
workers in the typical school at the poalt last winter.
Pla."ls to put the c:x:-_panded pr<?gram into operation arc nou being worked
out with local schoo l authorities, Mrs . Kerr said, in keeping with t ho gTo,·n ng
interest in ade~uate s chool lunches for all children as a national health
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measure and in rosponse to project sponsor ' s requests that WP.A foocl pre:9ar&tion projects not be curt ailed •
.Applications for t he 1941- 1 42 projo 9t s hav e bo on rocoivod in t he
t' ;.,
,t,
Washington WP.A office from all States but one.
Local school boar ds , whi ch co-
sponsor tho units of the Sta to-widG proj ects , have in many insto..nc os o.lrcacly
signified t heir intention of providing the f aciliti es necessary for central
cooking and distribution of hot food .
As i n past years , food will be provi ded by tho Surplu.s HQ,I'l;:oting
Administrn.tion of the De?artmcnt_of .Agriculture , school boards, non-governmental
or ganizations and t h e WPA it s elf.
Tho WP.A contribution, Mrs . Kerr expl ained,
is made largely thr ou gh WPA garcloning n..'1.cl food :preservation project? , which
have boon busy during tho summer mont hs laying as i de :preserved food~
Mrs ~ Kerr note d t h2..t s choo l lunch projects for t he curr ent fiscn.l
year, lo oking to the possibility that food surp luses may be r educed i n ~mother
year by shipments abro ad, a.re being se t up to provi de fo r more f ood production
and preservation.
Exi s ti ng gD.rdening and preserving projec t s arc to be conso li-
dated vri t h lunch projects and new uni t s il:augur o.ted whore they do not now exist .
11 The
rejection of a 12..rgc po rcent n.ge of army selectees be co..use of
·physical unfitness has r eminded t his count r y abruptly t hat public hoc..lth is
achteved not a~ a matter of course but by c ease l ess effort in ever y com;;n.mi ty, 11
Mrs . Kerr said.
11
Since child nutrition is a key to adult hoal th ,
e:i1d
consequent-
ly to n2..tional strength a...11d. mora le , it is :w.. tur a l -chat the educator s , t he parents
and St ~te and local go vernments have as~cd that our p articipation i n t ho schoo l
lunch progTam be expanded or certainly no t curtailed.
11
Wi t h WPA f1.mds and employment reduced f rom l as t year, t he prospec t
of actually enlarging the progrn..'11 would have boon discouraging i f numerous
commu....'1ities were not translating their conc ern into k itchens and delivery trucks .
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Little school districts are ::,ooling their resources to su1Jport county ki tcnens
staffed by WPA '\vomen so thn t nourishing hot food may be fed to childre;.1 1·rho
too often have been bringing ina<leq_ua te lu.:::.ches from home .
Big citie s lJy
similar means are reaci1ing more o,nd more outl;;"ing and. smo.11 school 1:Juildi:1gs
which alo:1e coul d l10t O}Jerate kitchens .
Parent organizations are ass1.,1-111ing
greater responsibilities in the operc:,tion of school lu.:-:,.chrooms to nssu:i.'e t 11.eir
continu.nnce and expansion, a:1d. the rep orts to us h1dicate t ha.t man3r more volunteers tlmn ever before are ren,d~r to step in . 11
The program will be most extensi ve where t he need for free mo[',,ls and
more adeg_uate diet combine with willingness of school officials to s:ponsor
projects~
Du.rh1g January• Februnr3r and March of last winter the ln.rgest St2-te
((8 programs were in Tennessee , Georgi2:. o.nd South C2Xolina, in (!)ach of which ;noro
than 7 , O0Q,O00 hot lunches were :prepared under \ffA projects.
Moro t ho,n
6 , OO0 , OOO lunches were served in both North Carolina and California.
The New York City project served noo.rly 6.,OOO,OOO lunches a_uring
that period, a..11.d what may well be the lar ges t kitchen in tho world dnily :pro1x,rod
food for 110 , 000 children in 700 separate schools .
A contr o..1 kitchen in the
Dis t rict of Columbia prepared food for 10,000 Wr..shington children in 87 schoo ls .
TJ:i.e primary r ule in all lu_11.chrooms where
that all children who cannot pay will be fed.
W.PA 1v0men D.re em:9loyed is
Operating principall~r in
buildings where there are no regt.llar cafcte1·ias , the WPA pro gr nm ::_)rovides
•~•
assistance to schools wi. th cafeterias on:J.y to the extent justified by t h e
munber of children served without char ge .
I n other schools the autl1ori ties
are e xpected to pr ovide , wl:.enever :possible , as ~ch help as is necessary to
:prepare food for t..'rtose who pay for their lunches.
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