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Liberator in action: Lunch shaming buster Jeff Lew
“Lunch shaming” happens every day in school cafeterias nationwide. The victims of this shaming are children whose parents owe a nominal sum of money on their kid’s school lunch account.
The shaming is done in the school lunch line for all the other students to witness. When the child gets to the pay point in line and the register shows a negative balance, some cafeteria workers make a grand display by throwing out the food, or they stamp a large, red dollar sign on the child’s arm, or add some other marking to reveal the child's lack of lunch money.
How cruel can a system be that it feels justified in embarrassing children while their fellow students look on? They not only are denied food, they are publicly ridiculed in the cafeteria.
Seattle resident, Jeffery Lew, was stunned when he read about “lunch shaming,” and decided to do something about it. When he learned that a small balance of $97 had accrued among a few students at his son’s school, he immediately started a GoFundMe page. Met with success in just a couple of days, he expanded out to other schools and school districts across the state of Washington.
Mr. Lew’s vision was clear. Not only was he going to ensure that children receive what may be their only hot meal of the day, he was going to liberate them from the stigma of shame.
Since doing the interview below on a Seattle television station, Mr. Lew has expanded his GoFundMe project across the nation.
If you still believe that one person can’t make a difference, think about Jeffrey Lew and what he has achieved. Do you have a liberator story you’d like to share? We’d love to hear.
Slipstream
I'm stunned and appalled by this story. When kids don't have money to eat, shaming is the last thing that should be happening, particularly by supposed responsible adults. Schools should make sure that every child who wants a hot lunch gets it, period. After all, for many kids, this is their only hot meal of the day. Obviously, schools aren't addressing this so thank God for people like Mr. Lew. He's proven that one person can do a lot in a very broken system. Thank you Mr. Lew, and thanks Youtropolis for posting this. An uplifting ending to a tragic story.
Well Street
Individuals who believe shaming children is a good idea have no business being employed by a school district, and I'd be curious to learn if administrators would fall back on the "we had no idea this was going on" excuse.
Applause for Jeffrey Lew and his efforts to banish this malicious and traumatizing practice.