Thread: Local Cafeteria Worker Fired After Giving Free Food to Student

Local Cafeteria Worker Fired After Giving Free Food to Student

One local lunch lady is out of a job after School District 25 fired her for giving a middle school student a free meal. There has been an uproar on social media about the incident, and many community members are not happy. Dalene Bowden has worked as a lunch lady for three years. She says, this school year alone between 80 to 100 kids have told her they’re starving, adding that she does not regret what she did for that little girl. Bowden says, "My heart hurts. I truly loved my job, and I can't say that I wouldn't do it again."

It’s been a week since Bowden lost her job at Irving Middle School. When speaking to KPVI she can barely form words when describing what led to her dismissal. KPVI News Reporter Magdala Louissaint asked, 'Why did you do it? You said you loved your job?" Bowden said, “Because they're hungry what do you do? Send them out there so they can get it taken away and thrown away, no!"

Last Tuesday, December 15, 2015, Bowden was working as a server when a 12-year-old girl told her she didn’t have any lunch money and was hungry. Bowden tells us what she did, "So I handed her the food and said here we'll take care of it in a minute." Bowden’s supervisor saw what happened and reported her, "He said I was on permanent leave until he called me. I should not call them he will call me. And they never called me... then I got the letter."

Signed and written by School District 25 Director of Human Resources, in that letter, Bowden was terminated for ‘Theft.’ "I think it's ridiculous,” said Dean Molder. Other residents in Pocatello do not agree with the school district’s decision. Justin Huse said, “That's absurd. That's a ridiculous reason to fire somebody." Jennifer Otte said, "I understand rules, but not when a child is hungry."

Through social media Bowden has rallied quite a number of supporters. She tells KPVI parents of Irving Middle School students want her back, but Dean Molder says there’s a bigger problem here, "If a kid cannot pay for a meal, or a parent cannot pay for a meal and a person is punished for feeding that kid. Somebody's got it wrong. Something is not right."
We reached out to School District 25 and didn’t hear anything. Bowden has hired an attorney to look into this case, and since her firing, an online petition has started to help her get her job back. Here is the link to the

petition,http://www.thepetitionsite.com/393/0...5281&cid=fb_na


http://www.kpvi.com/content/news/reg...1FAfzWCZw.cspx

It is a common practice to copy the Supervisor that brought the charges.

http://heavy.com/news/2015/12/dalene...-photos-video/

Interesting, this district is all about giving food away as long as the government pays them double the cost. This lady got fired for a lunch that cost $1.70, while the district gets paid by the USDA $3.47 per meal.

Districts summer lunch program serves 99,000 meals
4 months ago Sarah Glenn
By Sarah Glenn
For the Journal

POCATELLO –– With the start of school just around the corner, Pocatello/Chubbuck District 25 has wrapped up the 14th year of its free summer lunch program.

According to district officials, the program fed more than 99,000 meals to area children over the 11 weeks it ran.

“We just want to say thank you to the community for their awesome support,” said Tom Wilson, Food Services Coordinator for District 25. “We received a lot of great comments this year.”

The number of meals served was lower this year than Wilson anticipated, even with the program adding an extra week onto its schedule.

“There was some weather and other things that played a role in that,” Wilson said.

While the quantity of meals did not hit expected targets, the quality of the afternoon exceeded Wilson’s expectations. Several community and church groups caught on to the popularity of the program and brought their own activities to the various parks where lunch was being served. The Pocatello Fire Department hosted outreach activities, a local Baptist church provided entertainment and the library’s bookmobile made a few appearances.

“In the community, this has really gained some momentum this year,” Wilson said.

The Summer Food Service Program humbly began 14 years ago with two lunch ladies taking food over to Alameda Park in their cars.
“After three days of them getting bombarded, we taught them how to drive a truck,” Wilson said.

Over the years, the free lunch program for kids has exploded into a wildly popular ritual for hundreds of local families. Last summer, the program served more than 90,000 meals throughout the course of the summer. In 2010, the number of meals served reached its peak at about 140,000. This year the district was aiming for 105,000 meals served, but fell about 6,000 short of that target.

The USDA program reimburses providers who serve healthy meals to children and teens ages 18 and under in low-income areas. The district carefully tracks how many meals are served because that is what determines the amount they are reimbursed for. According to the USDA program’s website, the average reimbursement for lunch is $3.47 per meal. Parents could purchase a meal at one of the Pocatello sites for $3. Open sites must operate in low-income areas where at least half of the children come from families with incomes at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, making them eligible for free and reduced-price school meals. Congress appropriated $398 million for the program in 2012.

Wilson said he does not expect any major changes to the program next year.

“We just want to build on the last 15 years and keep building and see if there’s any other improvements we can make,” Wilson said.

http://pocatelloparents.com/districts-summer-lunch-program-serves-99000-meals/

If this lunch lady is so passionate, then let her pay for the meals. Maybe all the protesters of her termination would be willing to chip in their own money.
Lady, that's not your food, you have no right to give it away. You a merely there to serve food.
That's my tax money. It ain't free!

Hunger is a terrible issue in this country. I give to the Star of Hope, my local food bank, missions and canned food drives at the grocery store. But that's my choice. Not a government stealing from me to feed others without my permission. How many of you want to bet that the parents of these hungry children waste their money on entertainment, cars, alcohol, tattoos, cigarettes, and drugs? They're certainly not investing in birth control or God forbid, restraint. I realize that some may view my opinions as monstrous, but so what? A community should help its citizens, not the government. The government should protect us and our rights. I work hard for my money and I should be the one to choose what I do with it.

If this lunch lady is so passionate, then let her pay for the meals. Maybe all the protesters of her termination would be willing to chip in their own money.

She did offer to pay for the food. $1.70, it was refused.