International School Meals Day: School Feeding Programs Offer a Lifeline to Vulnerable Children
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 13, 2025) – For Jenny and other parents whose children attend Our Lady of Victory school in Balan, Haiti, the school feeding program brings a level of comfort that their children will have at least one healthy meal each day.
“Sometimes, due to financial difficulties, we consider not sending our children to school,” Jenny said, speaking on behalf of herself and other parents. “However, knowing that they will be fed there, we make the effort to send them, even when we lack money. It reassures us to know that they can study in good conditions, with peace of mind and full stomachs.”
The success of the program is a testament to the significance of International School Meals Day, this year on March 13. Celebrated each year on the second Thursday of March, International School Meals Day emphasizes the connection between healthy eating, education, and better learning.
Now in its third year, the feeding program at Our Lady of Victory School is generously supported by Food For The Poor (FFTP) donors and friends from St. Remy Catholic Church in Russia, Ohio. It provides critical nourishment that helps students stay focused and ready to learn. Many children arrive hungry, coming from nearby communities where families struggle daily to meet basic needs.
It is a lifeline for students like Lamande, a sixth grader, who is grateful to know there will be a meal waiting for him when he arrives at school each day.
“Sometimes, we leave home without having eaten, unsure if we will find something to eat,” he said. “But thanks to the school cafeteria, we are able to meet this essential need.”
The need in Haiti is especially urgent, as the country has endured multiple crises in recent years, starting with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, followed by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace in August 2021, major civil unrest, soaring inflation, and a resurgence of cholera in the fall of 2022.
More recently, the country was besieged by a surge of gang activity in 2024 that left almost half the population of 11 million at critical levels of food insecurity and more than one million people have been rendered homeless after fleeing their homes to escape gang violence.
“There is no question that our school feeding programs bring a level of support that is desperately needed by children and families in Haiti,” FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said. “We are grateful to all our donors whose support enables us to operate school feeding programs in Haiti and in other countries where we work.”
To date, FFTP has supported approximately 30 school feeding projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Four are currently in progress, providing meals for more than 60,900 students. In addition, FFTP-Haiti currently supports school feeding programs in 700 schools that provide meals for more than 184,700 students, as well as a breakfast program consisting of cassava and peanut butter in 29 schools located in the Northeast.
Among the newest initiatives is an 18-month feeding program established in 2024 in partnership with World Food Program USA to support the World Food Programme’s school meals and nutrition efforts in El Salvador with a $2 million investment. This first-of-its-kind initiative strengthens local grain producers and enhances the production of Biofortik, a nutritional supplement enriched with amino-chelated iron, specifically designed to combat iron deficiency anemia.
Made from high-quality protein, local corn and sorghum, and fortified with essential vitamins, Biofortik is preservative-free. A 30-gram serving, when mixed with milk or water, provides 10 percent of a child’s daily caloric needs and is consumed three times a week as part of the school snack program. The program is providing Biofortik to an additional 60,000 children, aiding the fight against anemia and malnutrition among more than 400,000 total schoolchildren in El Salvador, while also supporting 500 small-scale farmers.
Another program – a school-based community feeding center at Sotero Barahona School in the Los Achiotes Community in Omoa, Honduras – is operated in collaboration with FFTP’s trusted partner CEPUDO. It provides hearty meals for more than 60 students and 300 adults.
“It’s through the generosity of our donors and our trusted partners, that we are able to reach so many children and provide the nutrition they need to grow strong, get an education, and ultimately take care of themselves and their families,” Raine said. “That is our goal – to demonstrate that poverty is not inevitable, and that people can become self-sustaining with the proper assistance.”
About Food For The Poor
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 15 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit foodforthepoor.org.
Ernestine Williams
Communications
305-321-7342
[email protected]
