One spirited girl is affecting a healthy change in her world by posting photos of her less-than-healthy school lunches.
One spirited girl is affecting a healthy change in her world by posting photos of her less-than-healthy school lunches.
Last week we had our latest newhope360 Twitter chat on the state of school lunches, which included awesome comments and helpful resources (read the transcript of "What Are We Feeding our Kids?").
Around that time, my colleague Caren Baginski pointed me to NeverSeconds, a wonderful blog written by Martha Payne, a 9-year-old Scottish schoolgirl, about her rather dismal school lunches, complete with photos. Here's what's amazing: Since starting in April, the blog has gone viral, gaining more than 1.8 million page views and garnering a compliment and follow from no less than Jamie Oliver.
Even better, all the attention has already garnered changes at Martha's school. She blogged on May 25:
“As we lined up for lunch we were officially told that we are all allowed as much salad, fruit and bread as we want and that we had always been able to…..well my friends and I never knew that. It must have been a well kept secret. Everyone is really happy about the news now.”
She also posts photos that kids send her of their school lunches, from places as varied as Japan, Germany, Finland, China, and the United States. Hundreds of comments contain outrage (and sometimes amusement) about the kind of foods kids are fed every day.
And in a nice bigger-picture move, Martha's dad helped her create a giving page (JustGiving.com/NeverSeconds) to raise money for kids who don’t get any lunch at all.
I love it that school kids across the world are noticing the sorry state of what they’re fed and becoming active in the movement for better school lunches. You go, Martha!
