Gadsden County Times

Mears Tells About
Foods for Schools

School days have a meaning to more than just the pupils, parents and patrons, teachers and others in the school administration, G. H. Mears, who is Gadsden county school superintendent, observed today.

Take the State Department of Public Welfare for instance, he said. During the three summer months when schools are closed, distribution of commodities by that department sinks to almost nothing; but when the schools open, sending out more than 20 different kinds of foods for use in schools in every county of the state becomes "big business."

The commodities are used in school lunch rooms, and go a long way toward making it possible for children to get the kind of lunches they do for as little as they pay, Superintendent Mears said.

In September, October, and November—first three months of the present year—the State Welfare Department sent to schools in the state food with a wholesale value of $473,913.80.

The commodities come to Florida without cost from the U. S. Department of Agriculture through its price support program. Distribution within the state is handled as one of the services of the Welfare Department.

Here in Gadsden county, commodities received the first three months of this school year had a wholesale value of $5,302. Among the items were canned peaches, cheese, canned peas, canned cherries, navy beans, dried milk, canned snap beans, peanut butter, honey, canned tomatoes, canned tomato paste, and fresh apples.