S.C. districts awarded grants to improve healthy meal access in small, rural schools

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Federal data shows about 30 million kids across the country eat a school meal every day, and for many of them, this is the healthiest and only hot meal they get daily.

Millions of dollars from the federal government will soon help connect students with nutritious meals in some of the country’s smallest and most rural districts.

On Monday, the USDA announced it is awarding $30 million to school districts across the country through its “Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative,” with a handful of them in South Carolina.

“This is a historic investment by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service in school nutrition and will reach students in some of our nation’s highest-need schools,” Action for Healthy Kids CEO Rob Bisceglie said on a conference call with reporters Monday.

More than 260 school districts across 44 states and the District of Columbia are receiving up to $150,000 each through this initiative.

In South Carolina, four districts were selected from among 600-plus applicants nationwide: Spartanburg School District 4, Edgefield County School District, Lexington County School District 3, and Lee County School District.

This money will go toward improving meal nutrition and modernizing operations — for example, through kitchen renovations and new training programs — focused on smaller and rural districts.

“Particularly in rural places, when you’ve got a smaller population and lower student size, it becomes even more difficult to pool together the funds to have an operating kitchen that has all the necessities to make sure that meal can be as healthy as possible and as tasty as possible,” Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small said.

The USDA said these grants are the largest targeted investment it has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.

Expanding access to healthy, free school meals is a priority for some lawmakers at the South Carolina State House as well.

Sen. Katrina Shealy, R – Lexington, has filed a bill with bipartisan support that would provide universal free school meals across South Carolina.

Shealy has vowed to push for its passage when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

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