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Dear Editor,
We are a group of Latino families that are part of the Saint Vrain Valley School District. The daily food insecurity experienced by our children and many other children throughout Colorado is a top-priority issue of great concern to our community. We have been working on the issue of school food for more than two years and when we learned about the Healthy School Meals for All Initiative, we unanimously decided to put all our efforts to promote and make its approval a reality.
We as parents are concerned about the type of food served at school, because our children rely on those school meals each day. In our community, there are parents who do not earn enough to cover their basic family needs. A significant proportion of our families are part of the free or reduced-price meals program; however, many others are not.
Many Latino families in our community work longer hours, earn less and therefore struggle to make school lunches for our kids daily. This initiative will provide all students in public schools with a free meal every day, regardless of their family’s income, so no kid goes hungry because they don’t have enough lunch money.
We recognize that school food is essential, as it ensures that children optimally develop their physical growth, behavior, and learning. Healthy breakfast and lunch served daily at school is an opportunity for our children to learn to take care of their health. Proposition FF and its proposals are a change that is needed now more than ever as we must ensure that all children can thrive and reach their true potential.
Sincerely,
Karla Cardoza
On behalf of the Longmont community group
