Is Free Lunch Program a Wonderful Idea or Another Wasteful Program?

by Chris D Posted 2012/07/05 17:00:00

Related Topics: Free Lunch, Wasteful Spending, Government programs, Camp, Lunch programs, School Lunch

818 votes
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	Free lunch, please!	404 votes	49%
	More wasteful spending...	258 votes	32%
	I think...	156 votes	19%

The free lunch program that is supposed to feed kids in need is really just a free lunch for anyone who shows up. Do you think it's a waste of tax payers' money?

FOXNEWS.COM reports:
Every summer across the country, more than 3 million children eat for free at more than 30,000 sites, from schools to recreation centers to migrant worker camps. It's a valuable resource for families who are struggling -- but, critics say, a convenient freebie for those who aren't.
migrant worker camps valuable resource families struggling critics convenient freebie

migrant worker camps valuable resource families struggling critics convenient freebie

+38

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Nick 2012/07/05 18:28:41

Free lunch, please!

+34
Hungry children can't learn well, and being hungry and broke is not their fault
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RobHom to star 2012/07/10 13:42:39

Sounds to me like voters need to wise up and elect new people and demand an accounting on the ones in office now.

We've hung a few of them down here...not literally, but figuratively...even a couple of Sheriffs have found out they are not above the law...

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star to Super_D... 2012/07/10 06:28:12

Name one and run for office.

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Super_D... to star 2012/07/10 09:11:38

I plan to run for office. And you're right, we should go after the crooked politicians. Trouble is proving their guilt. Got anything to go on?
You're letting your emotions get involved not allowing you to see the point, and you really have no idea what is I want or what I'm saying. You go attack the government if you don't like the fraud committed in Washington and I'll worry about what I do

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john.keenan.792 2012/07/08 19:39:07

I think...

+1
well again in scotland especially in schol it is law and always been law since i went to school every child gets both in primary and seccondary school, children are provided free meals in school by law, and that's since i went to school and i was born 1975 and started 1979

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star to john.ke... 2012/07/10 06:33:47

We had school lunches in the mid forties at least in my school and I am 76 yrs old. All the kids not just a precious few. They were paid by the school district. So what!!

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Super_Doodles 2012/07/08 19:22:10

More wasteful spending...

+1
If it was to help the needy families and didn't include the greedy families then I wouldn't mind it at all, but it has turned into a people have gotten too lazy to confirm need while the qualifications have relaxed based on a false sense of need by allowing for the greed. There's just too much work to see who really is needy so let's just not turn anybody away....doesn't work in practicality

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star to Super_D... 2012/07/10 06:36:06

Get over it. Gripping doesn't help.

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Super_D... to star 2012/07/10 09:13:49

So why are you on here griping at me? This is a website designed to ask questions, learn and offer your own opinions. Don't start prematurely and immaturely attacking people because you don't like what they say, get off the website that's bound to have things you don't want to hear and go back to watching Desperate Housewives

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CaseyWelch 2012/07/08 19:13:50

Free lunch, please!

+1
For people in need its a great idea but some people would take advantage of a free meal

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Centurion~PWCM~JLA 2012/07/08 18:51:15

More wasteful spending...

+3
Often enough I find myself in a school lunchroom as they get their breakfast. Too often I watch them stand in line to pick up their breakfast. (so far, so good) I really don't mind helping hungry kids.

Then they get their breakfast and I see them walk to a second line to throw the entire breakfast into the trash bin without having taken so much as one single bite.

If they are not hungry, why stand in the first line to begin with? Just pass it by and save the taxpayers some money.

If that is not wasteful, please tell me what adjective that I should use.

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star to Centuri... 2012/07/10 06:37:27

+1
They are going to throw it away anyway. Can't keep till the next day LOL

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Centuri... to star 2012/07/10 07:00:08

If they are going to throw it away, then close down the cafeteria and quit ordering the food. I'm disgusted by the waste.

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Stacy F 2012/07/08 18:24:36 (edited)

Free lunch, please!

+1
No matter what your political leaning may be, I would think that most people would agree... no child should have to go hungry, especially at school.

When I was a schoolchild, I was part of that program, because my family was struggling to make ends meet. So, I have absolutely NO problem with the Free Lunch program.
For some children, its the only DECENT meal they'll get during the day.

(My only wish is that they'd get rid of the boiled spinach. YUCK!)

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*Mahogany Goddess 2012/07/08 17:37:27

Free lunch, please!

+1

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MarcusRP 2012/07/08 17:30:17

Free lunch, please!

+4
I'd rather someone who doesn't need food gets it rather than someone who does need food not get it.

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Super_D... to MarcusRP 2012/07/09 10:44:18

+1
There are ways to do both, if the officials were willing to just do it

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JohnT 2012/07/08 16:11:46

Free lunch, please!

+2
We waste lives on wars, money on defense, money for other nations, money for bail outs, money for oil companies called subsidies, I guess with 45 million children in poverty if some of it goes to waste that is just too bad. when we feed our own children many times food is not eaten do you cut them off?

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beavith1 to JohnT 2012/07/08 17:08:42

+1
your number is faulty. we evidently have 46 million Americans on food stamps...

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JohnT to beavith1 2012/07/08 18:53:25

+1
Your correct I just read the update on Wiki this morning.

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star to beavith1 2012/07/10 06:38:56

They have to qualify.

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beavith1 to star 2012/07/10 14:13:25

46M? yes they have to qualify, AND the Obama administration is also beating the brush to have MORE people in the system.

46 MILLION?

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Super_D... to JohnT 2012/07/08 19:43:57

FYI: oil companies tend to pay 3 times in taxes what they profit

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Super_D... to Super_D... 2012/07/08 19:46:09

+1
http://www.phillyburbs.com/ne...

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JohnT to Super_D... 2012/07/08 19:49:04

I don't feel sorry for them one way or the other, not when we are paying over four dollars a gallon. I want the subsidies to stop.

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Super_D... to JohnT 2012/07/08 20:43:26

Did you read the article?

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JohnT to Super_D... 2012/07/08 21:02:59

Written by a CPA not a recognized source such as AP or UP or any other news agency.

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Super_D... to JohnT 2012/07/09 11:15:52

+1
A 22-year veteran America-loving CPA (yeah, I think his industry is taxes, not the AP or UP). It's a simple fact checking exercise. If you can't do that then you shouldn't provide input. Nobody cares about your personal feelings, we like reality. And if you'll read the Forbes article, you'll see why AP shouldn't be your only accreditation source. It seems you've been told something and took it, hook, line and sinker, and when proven false, you refuse to unhook yourself because of "source". You're just trying to dismiss facts because of feelings, and that just doesn't lead to substantive opinions, but biased subjective propulgating of the untrue.
http://www.newsmax.com/DrewJo...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/c...

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JohnT to Super_D... 2012/07/09 14:38:09

+1
Valid points and your probably correct my bottom line like I said I rather see a few bucks wasted and the program there for the kids and don't care what corporations are doing.

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Super_D... to JohnT 2012/07/09 15:40:02

+2
Touche. I'm glad you didn't take my "rant" as badgering, I'm just trying to spread knowledge and truth. I'm not a fan of beating around the bush either :) I'm all for kids getting their food if they need it, the only problem I have with the waste is for the families that don't necessarily qualify the kids don't benefit, it's the parents who are committing the fraud. Thanks for being cordial in light of my directness, a lot of people find that difficult

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beavith1 to JohnT 2012/07/10 14:15:00

A CPA would lose his certification if he lies on a financial report.

i'd trust the AP or UPI far less.

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Beautiful_Syn 2012/07/08 15:45:59

Free lunch, please!

It's a good idea especially since some people can't afford to give their children the how much ever is needed daily for breakfast and lunch, 5 days a week.
It adds up when only one parent is bring in an income on minimum wage.

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beavith1 2012/07/08 15:33:28

I think...

+2
we've lost sight of its original intent.

prior to WW2, induction center doctors would find draftees that were badly nourished their entire lives, thus reducing our draft pool.

feeding poor kids, not only in schools, but in backwoods places like Appalachia, was made an inexpensive priority.

it looks like management of this program has failed. this is just one more political failure of this administration.

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JohnT to beavith1 2012/07/08 18:55:34 (edited)

That is a good thought, I wonder how many years back the problem has existed. I have no problem blaming the current administration but we didn't get at these poverty numbers overnight.

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Super_D... to JohnT 2012/07/08 19:47:40

+1
I believe FDR started the program as temporary means of assistance during the Great Depression

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beavith1 to JohnT 2012/07/09 00:49:49

+1
my only concern is its current management.

if you consider those 46M that are on EBT cards, if we didn't offer those sorts of 'privacy' things, can you imagine how long the bread lines would be if they were required to line up to collect?

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SJG 2012/07/08 14:49:25

Free lunch, please!

Children need the help of adults. They cannot fend for themselves. Compassion only dictates the need to assist.

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seadog6608PWCM 2012/07/08 12:32:13
SJG to seadog6... 2012/07/08 14:47:44

+2
THese are children fool.

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seadog6... to SJG 2012/07/08 16:57:31
Twinky to seadog6... 2012/07/08 17:11:54

+3
Yeah because every parents knows their future and whether they are going to still have a job in five years, or whether the economic climate is going to change so significantly that they can't afford the food they used to be able to buy.

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