It’s time to honor our nation’s school food heroes.

In March of 2020, COVID-19, a highly contagious and deadly viral respiratory illness, hit the United States. This caused mandated stay-at-home orders and closures of all congregant businesses and institutions. Schools closed their doors and moved to online learning platforms.

One of the issues that quickly became apparent with the closure of schools across the country was the importance of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) that, even prior to COVID-19, was feeding over 22 million children who rely daily on free and reduced price school lunch. In addition to lunch, millions of children depend on the School Breakfast Program, After School Meals and other USDA Child Nutrition programs.

School food leaders and their teams immediately developed strategies for feeding children while keeping both their staff and communities safe. Our nation recognized the responsibility placed on school food professionals to feed America’s children every day - and they were soon designated as “essential employees.”

In the best of times, school food professionals have juggled limited budgets, worked with outdated equipment, and navigated federal regulations while still feeding our nation’s children without fanfare. Now, these “first responders” - typically some of the lowest paid positions in school districts - have stepped up to keep communities fed at a time when some families became food insecure overnight. Not only are they continuing to feed vulnerable families across the country, but they are ensuring that the transfer of meals does not also mean a transfer of the virus.

For these school food heroes, their students and their teams are top priority. For these heroes, food is a passion, a demonstration of love and a daily example of how they are supporting education and feeding our future.

Honoring School Food Heroes is a collaborative effort, advocating for our nation’s food service programs in a time of multiple challenges. We want children to have access to the best food possible, so they can succeed in the classroom, thrive at home and live happy, healthy lives. We want to highlight the many contributions school food professionals make on a daily basis and build a community of advocates to support their efforts.

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