{"id":201566,"date":"2026-01-14T21:51:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T02:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=201566"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T02:47:48","slug":"vwcs-food-services-department-serves-up-many-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/01\/14\/vwcs-food-services-department-serves-up-many-meals\/","title":{"rendered":"VWCS food services dept. serves many meals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When school is in session, the food services department at Van Wert City Schools is a busy one. Just how busy? How about more than 250,000 meals served during a typical school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Wednesday night\u2019s school board meeting, Food Services Director John Marquez said during the 2024-2025 school year, 187,423 lunches were served across the district\u2019s four schools, along with 69,232 breakfasts.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Food Services Director John Marquez shares figures and information about meals served during the 2024-2025 school year. Scott Truxell\/VW independent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThese numbers reflect strong participation and highlights how essential our program is to families across the district,\u201d Marquez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added the average breaks down to about 1,400 meals per school day and he said the largest share of meals was served at the elementary school. Nearly 99,000 free lunches were served districtwide along with nearly 20,000 reduced price lunches. Free breakfasts made up the majority of that program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marquez also praised his entire staff and explained the strict federal nutritional guidelines that must be followed when planning and serving school lunches to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur work is far more than food,\u201d he said. \u201cProper nutrition supports academic performance, attendance, emotional well being and overall health. For many families, school provides a reliable source of nutritious food and we take that responsibility seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSchool meals can be the most nutritious lunch a lot of students receive during the day,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe don\u2019t know their home life, we don\u2019t know what they go home to or what they come from but while they\u2019re here they\u2019re going to receive a nutritious lunch from us that meets all federal requirements that are handed down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marquez also said the district\u2019s policy is every child receives a meal regardless of their account balance or ability to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo child goes hungry,\u201d he stated. \u201cIf a student has no money on their account, they\u2019re still fed, they\u2019re never singled out, they\u2019re never denied a meal. This commitment is central to our values even though it can create financial challenges. The state and federal regulations say we an offer an alternative meal to students who don\u2019t have the money on their account but we do not do that. It\u2019s our choice here at the school that every student receives the same meal \u2013 we don\u2019t want to single them out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board Vice-President Julie Burenga asked about last year\u2019s shortfall due to non-payment, to which Marquez said it total approximately $1,800. He also said the Van Wert Moose Lodge previously stepped in to cover all negative lunch balances. He also said some staff members donate once a month or annually to help offset negative balances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cafeteria operation is a 100 percent self-funded and non-profit enterprise through federal and state reimbursements, meal sales and \u00e0 la cart purchases. It operates independently from the school district\u2019s general fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor When school is in session, the food services department at Van Wert City Schools is a busy one. Just how busy? How about more than 250,000 meals served during a typical school year. At Wednesday night\u2019s school board meeting, Food Services Director John Marquez said during the 2024-2025 school year, 187,423 lunches […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-13 01:10:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201566"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201611,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201566\/revisions\/201611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}