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Lunch need increases in Eagle County

Katie Drucker
kdrucker@eaglevalleyenterprise.com
Eagle County, CO Colorado

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado ” Public schools in Eagle County, Colorado have seen a 35.3 percent increase in the number of students enrolled in the national free/reduced school lunch program.

Ray Edel, Eagle County Schools director of food service, believes that’s an indicator of how local families are being hit by the national economic downturn.

“It’s the economy,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what the increase was going to be. But I did expect a slight increase.”



The national school lunch program is a federally assisted meal program which provides nutritionally balanced lunches at low cost ” 40 cents or less ” or for free to children in need each school day.

Children who meet specific financial guidelines, based on income and number of family members, are eligible for this program.

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Gypsum Elementary had the biggest increase out of all Eagle County public schools in the number of students receiving free lunches, with 53 more students enrolled this year.

Brush Creek Middle School and Eagle Valley High School also ranked high in the increase of students eligible for this program.

All together 1,561 students in Eagle County are receiving free lunch and 504 students are receiving reduced lunch.


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