**Summary: Blessed Are the Women Who Watch Over America’s Children**
Jennifer Justus’s article, "Blessed are the women who watch over America’s children," is a heartfelt homage to the generations of women—often grandmothers, mothers, and cafeteria staff—who have provided not just nourishment but love, care, and stability to America’s children through school food programs. Drawing on her own family history and the contemporary challenges facing school nutrition, Justus weaves personal narrative with broader social and political context, highlighting both the enduring spirit of lunchroom workers and the obstacles they continue to face.
**A Grandmother’s Kitchen and Community Care**
The story begins with Justus’s childhood memories in Blue Ridge, Georgia, where her grandmother, Beulah Culpepper, worked in the school cafeteria. For Justus, the simple pleasure of government-issued cheese—sliced and served with love—became a symbol of the resourcefulness and generosity embodied by her grandmother. Beulah, who started her cafeteria career at 43 after raising eight children, was known for her homemade soups, yeast rolls, and peanut butter cookies. She managed the cafeteria with both frugality and a deep commitment to feeding every child, even sneaking extra food to those who needed it. Her “situational ethics,” as the family calls it, meant no child left hungry, regardless of official rules.
Beulah’s kitchen was a hub of activity, filled with canned vegetables, homemade cakes, and biscuits. Yet, what stood out most was her sense of responsibility to the community—a value passed down to her children and grandchildren. Justus notes that while she never learned her grandmother’s recipes, she absorbed lessons in hospitality, advocacy, and the unique power of food to create belonging.
**The Modern Lunchroom: Dedication Amid Budget Cuts**
Transitioning to the present, Justus profiles today’s school cafeteria workers—women like Stephanie Dillard in Alabama, Lisa Seiber-Garland in Tennessee, and many others across the South and Midwest. These women echo Beulah’s values, balancing tight budgets, shifting government regulations, and increasing demands for healthier, fresher meals. Dillard, now president of the School Nutrition Association, champions access to local produce (like satsumas and strawberries) and advocates for more scratch cooking. However, she and others face significant challenges: funding cuts, loss of grants, and bureaucratic red tape make it increasingly difficult to provide nutritious meals or source from local farmers.
Recent federal funding cuts have particularly impacted farm-to-school programs, which helped connect schools with local farmers. Samantha Goyret and Caroline Ideus, coordinators in Tennessee, recount how planned orders and planted crops were left unsupported after grants vanished. For farmers, this means lost income; for students, diminished access to fresh, local foods. Despite these setbacks, nutrition directors like Seiber-Garland do what they can, sometimes dipping into personal funds or organizing donations to ensure no child goes unfed.
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