KCS Continues Providing Meals to Students at No Cost 2019-2020

KCS Continues Providing Meals to Students at No Cost 2019-2020
Posted on 08/21/2019

Students in Kanawha County will have the opportunity to eat breakfast and lunch at school at no cost through a program called the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). The CEP was enacted as a result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and provides universal meal service to children in high-poverty areas. This is the fourth year for the option.

The CEP serves as an alternative to collecting, approving and verifying household eligibility applications for free- and reduced-price eligible students in high-poverty Local Education Agencies (LEAs). If at least 40 percent of a school's students are directly certified for free meal benefits, the entire school qualifies for the option.

“I am proud that Kanawha County Schools will be participating in the CEP program to help meet a crucial need for many students in our county,” said Dr. Ron Duerring, Superintendent of Kanawha County Schools. “We know academic achievement increases when our students are well-fed and ready to learn, and we must provide secure and reliable access to nutritious meals so all students have a chance to achieve at the highest level possible.”

Kanawha County expects to have 66 schools participate in the CEP. All students at every elementary, middle, and high School shall receive a free breakfast and a lunch. We are expanding our local produce purchases and increased opportunities for more school made scratch meals. Each school has a garden bar with fresh lettuce, produce and selected dressings. The CEP program allows the school system to feed nearly 25,765 students each day.

The 2017 Feeding America: Map the Meal Gap data reports high levels of food insecurity and hunger across the country. In West Virginia, more than 14 percent of residents, and over 79,000 children, live in food insecure households.

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