CEP Breakfast and Lunch Program – Donations Needed!
To start, I would encourage you to watch the short video on our district’s Facebook page or website for more thorough information. Last year, our district was fortunate to qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program that allowed free breakfast and lunch to all students. At the end of the year, we came to the realization that our district may not be able to afford this program going forward, as the total cost to the district was approximately $40,000. This is due to the rate of reimbursement for the percentage of students that are directly certified to receive free or reduced meal prices.
At the beginning of the school year, we learned of an alternative path to stay enrolled in the CEP program, keeping free breakfast and lunch for ALL students. This would be through a donation program and this is how it works. For a student that does not qualify for free or reduced lunch, the cost to eat school lunch each day is approximately $500 for the school year. This does not include the cost of breakfast. Our board is asking parents of these students to make a donation in the range of $200-$400 per child. We have approximately 120 students that do not qualify for free or reduced lunch and eat school lunches regularly. These donations will offset the cost for the CEP program, allowing our district to continue with free breakfast and lunch for ALL students. Donations can be made in a lump sum or in smaller increments throughout the school year. The donations will be deposited in the general fund and then transferred to our food service account. So far, we have had some great donations, but we still have a ways to go to cover this program. Please consider making a donation to ensure we can offer very affordable meals to all of our students!
The school board is willing to try this effort to ensure all of our students have access to breakfast and lunch! This is a way to decrease the cost for all and yet continue to provide free meals. Unfortunately, if we are not able to secure enough funds through donations, we will likely not be able to sustain this program after this school year. We also plan to share this with our awesome businesses and the full community to seek support for this request. Please feel free to share this with anyone else who may be interested in supporting this program. If you have any questions about this request or program, please contact Mr. Green.
