On free and reduced lunches

I'm super thankful for the free and reduced lunches program that came about during Bush, Jr.'s presidency and has been continued ever since in some form or fashion. When I was a senior in high school my dad and I were poor. We were almost homeless, except that the guy overseeing payments on the house let us live there for pretty much free. My dad would occasionally give him any money he could "afford" -- like a $20 or something. The guy never complained. Years later, the guy passed on and we found out he wiped out the debt on the house quietly. I can't even thank the man for that kindness, and letting my dad keep his dignity about the situation, which was important to him.

But back to free lunches... my dad would give me $5 at the start of each week that I could use for school lunches. I knew we couldn't afford that, because school lunches were $2.50 at the time, which meant I'd need another $5 by Wednesday and then again by Friday. So, I would take the $5 on Monday and use it on the vending machines. I could get a snack and a soda for $0.50 each, $1.00 total. When Wednesday rolled around, my dad would ask me if I needed more money, and without explanation, I'd say "no." Then, he'd be all confused, and I would never explain how that was the case. After about a semester of that, he asked me what I was doing with the money that I could make it stretch so long. I told him. But by that point I'd learned about the free and reduced program through some friends of mine, so I told him about that. The next day he went into the school, filled out the paperwork, and by next week I could get free breakfast or lunch from the cafeteria every day.

It wasn't until years later that I saw a photo of myself and realized how malnourished I was. The photo below isn't the perfect example to demonstrate that, but here's a photo of me from that semester before I began getting free meals (I was rehearsing a play here).

I guess my point is... let the kids eat.

When I graduated high school, I was 5'9" and weighed only 120 pounds.