Local woman on a mission to end child hunger in schools

MARYLAND. – One local woman is looking to level the playing field for school-aged children during lunch time.

Interim director of Maryland Hunger Solutions, Lamonika Jones, is working to create universal free school meals in institutions across Maryland.

Jones said that offering a child a free, nutritious lunch can ​help children form healthy eating habits, while also powering them through their busy day at school, so they can become better learners in the classroom.

“We want to make sure that they not only have access to those meals, but they actually are nutritious, and they are going to benefit in a way that increases learning, decreases any sort of behavior issues, encourages them to come to school and reduces any truancy,” Jones said.

Jones is still in advocacy mode right now, calling on schools to get on board with free meals. She said starting the conversation is the first step of stopping the stigma of not having enough to eat.