May 8, 2017 By Luke Campbell 4 min read

The small percentage of students accepting free and reduced school lunches remain meager compared to the amount who qualify, either from a lack of knowledge or to avoid being looked down upon from their peers.

Some school districts in various states have compounded the issue by enticing students – some even in elementary schools – to work off lunch debt or even brand students with a stamp to alert parents of dwindling lunch-money funds.

Meeting to discuss this problem and poverty in suburban areas, including the South Hills, state Rep. Dan Miller and others held an event to show that these problems exist everywhere.

Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, doesn’t have to look several states away to realize the shaming young students have endured. He just has to go back to a time in his life when he was on the receiving end of those comments.

“We were dependent on the Head Start program,” Miller told the crowd that gathered in Castle Shannon Public Library May 3. “Everybody in my community growing up sort of was to varying degrees. My sister and I would get free lunch up to the point of getting to the fifth grade. We were picked on endlessly for it. In fifth and sixth grades, both my sister and I didn’t eat lunch because we were tired of getting picked on.”

Remembering the weekly trips to the food bank to collect the free block of government cheese and spam became protocol for Miller and his family. Scavenging through used cleats and shin guards at the local Goodwill couldn’t stop him from breaking his nose six times during his teenage years as he went up for headers in soccer, losing steady sight of the ball as it neared him. Health care for glasses was an expensive luxury.

With a nose that he admits is still slightly crooked, Miller isn’t trying to create a cycle of dependency, rather make sure the ladder that helped him and others decades ago is still fully extended.

“Poverty exists in every community,” Miller said. “We want to not only shine a light on the issue but also confront a stereotype. A lot of people have in their head that people who need assistance fit a certain demographic, look a certain way or do a certain thing. While there is a stereotype in most of our communities, it doesn’t reflect all of the community.”

Some areas are affected more than others. Cindy Haines, the executive director at Focus On Renewal, talked about problems directly in the location of the McKees Rocks-based nonprofit organization.

“One hundred percent of students in the Sto-Rox School District qualify for the federal lunch program,” she said. “The average income for a family of four in the district is $20,000. The average home value is $24,800. One in every four people in Sto-Rox is under 18-years-old. Eighty-six percent of students in Sto-Rox don’t have a mother and father in the home.”

While the problems aren’t as glaring as those in McKees Rocks, they still exist in suburban school districts in the South Hills.

According to a 2015-16 data from the state department of education reported by each sponsor of the School Nutrition Program and their corresponding meal service sites and schools, the uptick continues for people eligible for free and reduced lunches.

More than 37 percent of the enrollment at the Keystone Oaks School District qualified, while nearly 28 percent in Chartiers Valley can take advantage of the program. Bethel Park, South Fayette and Mt. Lebanon school districts each eclipse 10 percent. Nearly six percent of the enrollment in Upper St. Clair is also eligible.

“The thing that jumps out to me about this is there is some (poverty) everywhere,” said Ken Regal, executive director of anti-hunger advocacy organization Just Harvest. “There are folks struggling with poverty in every census tract, every neighborhood and every municipality. There are no places in this community or surrounding communities where there is no poverty.”

The poverty line for 2017 – set by the federal government – is $24,600 for a family of four. For a family of two, the line is set at $16,240.

“It’s a South Hills problem, also,” said James Guffey, executive director of South Hills Interfaith Movement. “When you think about Mt. Lebanon, it’s the blue ribbon schools, boutiques along the Main Street and wonderful, plush lawns. Even within Mt. Lebanon there is a story there that needs to be told about the differences in that municipality. If you’re a portion of that percentage affected, it matters to you.”