Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Pizza Day Redux

Today is Pizza Day at school!

*does happy dance*

While I can agree with Beck's concerns about Pizza Day at her kids' school, I'm lucky enough to not share those same issues at our school.

We order at the beginning of the month, for pizza on Wednesdays. Each slice is $1.50 and it's on whole wheat crust with low-sodium sauce. We can choose how many slices (my big eater of a 7 year old gets two, because the slices are quite small and he's got two hollow legs, that kid). Plus, you can order for specific Wednesdays rather than the whole month, if you choose to.

It's as fair a system as it can be, I think.

Of the $1.50 cost, 25 cents is a markup added by the school. That money goes to buy extra slices, plus some other odds & ends that go into the staff room fridge. On Pizza Day - or any day, in fact - those kids who show up to school with either inadequate or non-existent lunches quietly get given something from the stash. This isn't something that the school publicizes, and I daresay most parents don't even know about it. It's just something that the staff took it upon themselves to do, because they saw a problem and addressed it.

Knowing that buying pizza once a week makes my kid happy... saves me from needing to pack anything beyond a simple snack... and helps buy lunch for another kid in less-fortunate circumstances... well. It's a winning situation all around, and I sing the praises of Pizza Day every Tuesday night when I realize I only really need to pack two lunches instead of three.

It's the little things.

***

Lunch this week included a selection from cantaloupe, strawberries, greek yogurt, chicken salad sandwiches, homemade beef & vegetable soup, bananas, cheesestrings, multi-coloured Goldfish crackers because I'M NOT MADE OF STONE, apples, and dried cranberries.

3 comments:

  1. Our pizza day is Fun Lunch, and it's a big fundraiser for the school. I think it's something like $6.50 for the pizza and there's a drink and snack included. We have what is called an Angel Network (like Oprah, omg) and the PA silently funds certain kids so they can have Fun Lunch too. That said, my kids have never had Fun Lunch since they go home for lunch and they don't want to stay for it.

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  2. As long as they don't call it a vegetable, it sounds good to me!

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  3. Pizza day is a nice little breather in the lunch-making week. The idea that your school stashes some away to help kids out is lovely.

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