Celebrate National School Lunch Week!
During the 2025 National School Lunch Week, we highlight the many benefits of healthy meals at schools across Kansas and celebrate the school nutrition professionals who make it happen each day for Kansas kids!
The National School Lunch Program was established in 1946 when President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act into law. The legislation was a direct response to the widespread malnutrition and diet-related health issues that had prevented many Americans from serving in World War II. Additionally, the National School Lunch Act required schools to follow nutrition standards and incorporate agricultural commodities into meals. This not only provided students with healthier options but also gave growers and producers access to a new market, offering a buffer during economic downturns.
Now, the National School Lunch Program serves nearly 30 million students across the country every day. Students who participate in school meals benefit from improved health outcomes, better test scores, fewer school absences, and fewer behavioral referrals.
Across Kansas, school nutrition professionals see these benefits firsthand. Their stories show the real impacts that school meals have on Kansas kids and their families. Several school nutrition professionals have shared their stories and photos below.
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“This past May, I had a parent approach me and ask, “Will meals be free again next year?” ….. She said it makes her so happy when her child comes home and says, “My friend ate the same thing as me.” This melts my heart.”
Staci Talkington
USD 257 Iola
Food Service Coordinator and Homeless Liaison
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“School meals aren’t just about food—they’re about learning, health, equity, and community. Access to healthy, nutritious breakfast and lunch helps improve focus & learning, meets the nutritional needs of growing students, helps ease the financial burden for some of our families and provides a space for social connections.”
Laura Fails, SNS
USD 320 Wamego
Food Service Director
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“We try to provide our students with the best meals possible! We offer a full salad bar that the kids utilize on a daily basis. It includes fresh fruit and veggies, grain, and protein…..We feel this offers them a larger variety of foods they don’t normally eat.”
Amie Miller
USD 401 Chase-Raymond
Food Service Representative
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In Kansas, 1 in 5 kids is food insecure, and many rely on school meals for consistent access to healthy meals. That’s why Kansas Appleseed works to strengthen and expand these programs statewide.
Currently, we are focused on several key priorities, including:
- increasing the adoption and implementation of the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high-need schools to serve all meals at no charge to students.
- Addressing unpaid meal debt and working with schools to end policies that result in lunch shaming or stigma.
- Providing data to drive decisions: We recently mailed a personalized “snapshot” of available data to each school superintendent to highlight opportunities to consider for nutrition access for their district.
- Convening “At the Lunch Table,” a statewide coalition of school nutrition professionals, parents, students, administrators, and community advocates focused on school nutrition. Kansas Appleseed hosts a monthly virtual call to share best practices, learn from districts across the state, and help connect schools with information and resources.
Learn more about this critical work in Kansas Health Foundation’s feature: Feeding Kansas Kids: How Kansas Appleseed is Expanding Its Food Access Work into Schools, Communities – Kansas Health Foundation
As we celebrate National School Lunch Week, we honor the incredible work of school nutrition professionals across the state who ensure Kansas kids have what they need everyday. This National School Lunch week, we recommit to the critical work of protecting and expanding the school nutrition programs across Kansas.
