Free meals at Aiken schools take worry off parents’ plates

AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Every student in Aiken County now qualifies for no-cost meals at school this year.

That includes breakfast and lunch, and they won’t have to fill out an application.

It’s great news for a lot of parents, made possible by a change to the rules by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The change gives more high-need schools the option to offer every student a healthy school meal at no cost.

So Aiken County schools are making sure this year that the last thing their students are focused on is their stomach growling during class.

Every week, parents like Tamika Ware say they go into a grocery store with a plan.

“Trying to figure out what I’m cooking, trying to figure out is everybody’s gonna have enough of everything,” she said.

Staying on budget is getting harder, And as her children grow, so does her grocery bill.

“I’m spending almost $200 on groceries every week,” Ware said.” It’s a lot. It’s a lot for any parent.”

Basic items are now sky high.

“Milk, bread, cheese, most of the basic items that we usually need, I’m spending like 50 or $60, just on those main items,” Ware said.

But this coming school year, the days of cooking breakfast and packing a lunch for her kids will be a thing of the past.

That will really help with the budget.

“We are bringing new and innovative exciting menu options to the students,” said Polly Peyinghaus, food service coordinator for Aiken County Public Schools. “We want them to walk in and have restaurant-quality food and a restaurant-quality setting.”

Last year, only half the students in the district received two meals at no cost. That’s because 40% of students at a school had to live in poverty for the whole school to qualify.

This year, the USDA gave schools the option to offer no-cost meals to everyone if 25% of kids in a school were considered to be in poverty.

All 43 Aiken County schools have qualified – showing a dramatic shift in need.

It’s cutting Ware’s bill nearly in half.

“I know that he’s going to eat,” she said.

“I won’t have to worry about making a lunch for him at 4 o’clock,” she said. “I only have to worry about making a big dinner for him at maybe 6 o’clock.”

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