The yogurt company Chobani comes to aid of students offered jelly sandwiches

[left-of-center2012]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The yogurt company Chobani plans to pay the school lunch debts of low-income families with students attending a district that made headlines by announcing children who owe money would get cold sunflower butter and jelly sandwiches instead of a hot meal, the mayor’s office confirmed Friday.

The office of Warwick Mayor Joseph Solomon said it is coordinating with Chobani to accept nearly $50,000, the amount owed by low-income families with children in Warwick Public Schools.

Warwick Public Schools had said it was owed $77,000 and couldn’t assume more debt, sparking a public backlash and upsetting the mayor, who asked the school committee to reconsider. The district includes 19 schools. About 1,650 students owed money as of last Friday, and about 70% of those students are not enrolled in the program for free or reduced price lunches, according to the school committee.

Leaders are trying to find a balance between being fiscally responsible and ensuring all students get a healthy, nutritious lunch, school board Chairwoman Karen Bachus said.

https://www.apnews.com/a0da2622c4a6484ebc954a03df84b0e0

[CentralMass]

1. My thanks to Chobani. I will buy their products but shame on the local, state, and federal governmen

for letting this happen.

[Ohiogal]

12. I buy Chobani yogurt on a regular basis.

I like their products and I like the company.

[CentralMass]

16. +1

[samnsara]

2. what the hell is cold sunflower butter?

[Danmel]

4. It is a substitute for peanut butter

My daughter is allergic to peanut butter and she eats sun butter. Its actually not bad. But no child should be shamed and forced to eat what is essentially a way to stigmatize them for being poor.

[left-of-center2012]

6. Google is your friend

Sunflower butter, also known as sunflower seed butter, is a food paste made from sunflower seeds.
Sunflower butter is commonly used as a substitute for peanut butter when allergies are a concern.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_butter

[Blue_true]

14. Roasted sunflower seeds ground into a butter just like roasted peanuts are.

Sunflower seeds are highly, highly nutritious. At least the School Board was being a smidgen responsible in selecting sunflower butter.

[Lindsay]

3. Good on Chobani.

Not so good on people who think starving children is a good way of being fiscally responsible.

[Solly Mack]

7. Exactly my thoughts.

[Kurt V.]

5. wait. Didn't an individual already volunteer to pay and was denied?

[Luciferous]

11. I heard on the radio earlier that they had offered to pay some of the debt

and the school district refused the money because they said they couldn't fairly distribute it.

[Kurt V.]

13. i thought so. but if a corporation does it no problem?

[Luciferous]

15. I guess

[Codeine]

34. The difference would be them paying the entire anount

which doesn’t necessitate distributing it across multiple accounts the way a partial payment would require.

[at140]

8. I buy only Dannon whole milk yogurt

With no sugar added. At age 79 I have no bowel problems whatsoever. Just had a colonoscopy to confirm that. When I stop eating that yogurt, I get problems with gas & constipation.

[Blue_true]

17. Have you even tried Chobani? You also may want to try plain or flavored Kifir. nt

[at140]

18. Do they make yogurt from whole milk

And without sugar added? If so, I will give them a try.

[Blue_true]

19. I have tried their yogurt but didn't read the label.

If I am correct, they have the most natural yogurt on the market. They make a Greek style yogurt which was too thick for my liking. Next time you are in the yogurt isle, check out their ingredients and compare. I seldom eat yogurt now after switching to kifir. The kifir really calms my stomach, I used to do yogurt shakes for that, but no longer have to spend time making them my way.

[at140]

23. Agree totally about Greek yogurt...

too thick for my taste as well. It feels like eating liquified cheese. Removing the liquid in yogurt = loss of many nutrients.

[mitch96]

9. See!! Let in one of those damn Iraqi/Syrian Kurds and they just mess things up....

Paying poor peoples bills! That's totally un American.. And what about Steve Jobs.. what a failure.. Another guy of Syrian heritage......
m

[Skittles]

10. LOVE Chobani

[Me.]

20. I KNow It's Easy To Condemn The School Districts

But it's a problem on both sides, kids who need to be decently fed and schools that can no longer afford to do it. It's why people like Philandro Castile, before he was shot, was paying for the meals of kids who couldn't afford it out of his own pocket... and he was the manager of the school cafeteria. His mom just donated $8000. to cancel school lunch debt. In NYC any child who needs a breakfast or lunch can have one free.

It's very easy to condemn schools, and there are some lunchroom workers who do it out of meanness, but truly it's becoming a major issue because schools keep getting their budgets cut and parents cannot afford it.

[tavernier]

24. The lunchroom workers I've worked with

have bought lunches for kids out of their own pockets many times. The problem is seldom rich versus poor... it’s most often negligent parents who forget to sign their kids up for free lunches, or forget to put money in the child’s account, despite email or phone reminders.

[Me.]

25. And It Can Be Simply

that parents don't have the money.

I've met the mother of the principal of Philando Castile's former school and the issue was a matter of lack of funds and they were always trying to do right by the kids.

[tymorial]

27. It's probably a mixture of both

[tavernier]

28. I'm sorry, my post was too vague.

Families who qualify for free lunches for their kids often don’t sign up. There is no stigma to the kids. It’s in the computer and only the lady at the cash register knows. However, they do have to sign up and this is a simple process.

On the other hand, families that do not qualify are expected to either give their child lunch money or put money in their child’s lunch account through the computer, if they expect the child to eat the school menu. This is where most of our problems arise. Parents forget to do this and the child gets fed, but the parent gets a warning (email or phone call). After a certain amount of days in a row with the parent ignoring the notice, that is when the cold sandwich (cheese in our school) is given as a lunch. Keep in mind, these are not the low income families. Our county has a high rate of millionaires, and most of the kids drive cars much nicer than their teachers could ever afford.


I’ve never known the grade schoolers to be turned away from hot lunches, but on occasion the high schoolers get the sandwich. That’s when they go home and give the folks a shove to replenish their lunch accounts.

[Me.]

30. Your Post Wasn't Vague

But you seem to keep saying there isn't a problem of lack of funds.

[mitch96]

32. lunchroom workers bought lunches for kids

Same here. One of the ladies at my fav watering hole does that also. To top it off she is not the richest person around.. A real sweetie with a big heart. Just an old hippy paying it forward.
m

[Vinca]

21. I love Chobani even more now.

[SMC22307]

22. Glad all that Key Lime Crumble I eat is helping fund a good cause.

But it should never have come to this. Poor kids.

[CrispyQ]

26. How many martini lunches for corporate CEOs do taxpayers pay for a year?

But we can't feed our kids one hot meal a day for free.

[tavernier]

29. The same CEO's who can't or won't remember to add money to their kid's lunch accounts.

See my post above.

[Merlot]

31. Making children pay for lunch in the "richest country in the world"

ALL children should have free breakfast and lunch. What kind of country profits off school children?

[Jake Stern]

33. Good on Chobani

But this issue is far more complicated than "Mean School District versus Starving Kids".

There's the issue of parents who, for whatever reason, don't sign their kids up for free lunches when they qualify

There's the issue of parents who can pay ignoring multiple phone calls, emails, letters and so on and don't give their kids money for lunch

There's the issue of voters who elect people that pledge to slash property taxes ("I don't have kids so I shouldn't have to pay school taxes" )

Most insidious is the issue of school district funding being one of the first things chopped when there's a budget crunch or when politicians want to be seen as "trimming the fat".

They really are in a Catch 22 - residents complain the district needs to tighten its belt but when one of the results is the loss of food funding and its effects they get outraged.