On February 17, a cold and windy President’s Day, advocates and school nutrition professionals from across the commonwealth (and even Washington D.C.!) joined together at the Virginia General Assembly building and Bell Tower to demand investments in our young people, our parents, and our schools. The Virginia Healthy School Meals for All (HSMFA) Coalition convened for our first advocacy day to call on Virginia lawmakers to offer no-cost school meals in every single Virginia school cafeteria. 

The Virginia HSMFA Coalition is comprised of students, parents and caregivers, school nutrition professionals, educators, and stakeholders in food access, health care, and early childhood education sectors. Our north star is that every student, regardless of their zip code or how much money their family makes, has access to two healthy meals each and every school day. 

State legislators are familiar with this critical need, as advocates have been working alongside legislative champions on universal school meals legislation at the state level since 2023, after universal meals provided during the pandemic came to an end. Despite support for the policy, the concern cited by lawmakers continues to be the amount of state revenue it will cost to provide free school meals to every student.  

The Virginia HSMFA Coalition planned the Healthy School Meals for All Advocacy Day and Rally to remind legislators that hunger exists in every school district in Virginia, and making this common-sense investment is long overdue. 

Championing the Cause

The day kicked off with a delivery of “brown bag breakfasts” from the Voices team and youth advocate, Elijah Lee, to all 140 legislators. Each legislator received an apple, a bagel (donated by Thomas’ Breads in Chester), two handouts outlining the importance of Healthy School Meals for All, and a reminder of how important school meals are to constituents across Virginia.  

Once the brown bag breakfasts were all delivered, we headed to the 8^th floor of the General Assembly Building to welcome advocates for breakfast and connection time before our kick-off pep rally. 

Over breakfast, school nutrition professionals from a variety of school divisions discussed challenges and opportunities that they face while running their programs. Parents shared how helpful it is for their children to receive school meals at no cost, saving them time and money. Community members who were new to legislative advocacy asked how they could get more involved in the coalition. It was a beautiful moment of shared inspiration and hope.

Rallying Against Hunger

Over 30 supporters of Healthy School Meals for All gathered at the historic Capitol Bell Tower, alongside a large replica of a “brown bag lunch” adorned with school meals and food security data, created by Henrico Career & Technical Education Students.  

To paint the beautiful picture for you: under the bright shining sun, there were young advocates passing out beaded “H ⭐S ⭐M ⭐FOR ⭐A” friendship bracelets, advocates waving pom-poms and using kazoos and noisemakers to get folks pumped up, and long-time friends exchanging warm embraces.  

Voices’ CEO, Rachael Deane, kicked off the rally by reminding advocates that the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs are some of the farthest-reaching and most effective tools to ensure children do not go hungry and receive the nutrition they need to learn, grow, and thrive. 

“What if I told you about a policy that would help children excel in school, that would improve academic performance, that would improve school attendance, that would help make our children healthier?” Rachael asked advocates. “What if I told you that that program already exists and has for almost 80 years?”  

Following her remarks, Rachael opened the podium to Sandy Stokes, President of the School Nutrition Association of Virginia, and parent advocates, Nikieta Lambert and Laurel Budd, to share the importance of school meals from their unique perspectives.  

Sandy shared that universal school meals have the potential to impact the heart of our schools – the cafeteria staff and the essential work that they do. 

“Let’s consider the impact on our school nutrition departments, these departments are unsung heroes. They work hard every day behind the scenes to provide nutritious meals every single day,” Sandy reminded attendees. “With universal school meals they could see a more consistent flow of resources and funding which can be directed to improving quality and expanding meal choices.” 

Nikieta, a parent of a Chesapeake City public schools’ student and early childhood educator, kicked off her remarks by exclaiming, “feeding children just makes sense.” She reminded us of the developmental benefits of nutrition on growing minds and bodies.  

“The curriculum won’t matter, the facility upgrades won’t matter, if [students] do not have food in their stomachs.” – Nikieta Lambert 

Laurel, a parent of a Stafford County public schools’ student and a public-school teacher, laughed while telling advocates about how much her daughter enjoys school lunch and has even asked her to request recipes from the cafeteria staff. 

“I am a single mother and there have been various times where I have benefitted from the assistance of the various nutrition programs who provide healthy and nutritious food for my child. As a parent, this a great comfort for me.” – Laurel Budd

Before our rally chants, Emily Moore, Voices’ Sr. Policy Analyst, shared our appreciation for our incredible Virginia HSMFA Coalition members and co-leads, and welcomed Emily Hardy, Virginia Poverty Law Center, and Gonzalo Aida, American Heart Association, to the podium to share a few words of gratitude and support for HSMFA.

“We know that many kids who are eligible cannot get through the restrictive criteria, the difficult rules, the bureaucracy of getting that eligibility and getting those school meals,” shared Emily Hardy. “School Meals for All eliminates that barrier for low-income children and makes sure that all of our children are fed, regardless of their income.”  

 “I am also speaking as a proud parent of a child in Virginia schools,” shared Gonzalo. “My son currently goes to a school that provides free breakfast and lunch, and he loves his school breakfast and lunch – he talks about it when he gets home every day.”  

Advancing Healthy School Meals for All policies would not be possible without our legislative champions, and our rally wouldn’t have been complete without remarks from our House legislative champion, Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker. Delegate Bennett-Parker acknowledged the disappointment that is shared amongst advocates and champions that school breakfast for all was not included in the budget this legislative session but cemented her commitment to keep fighting next year.  

“This is going to become a reality.”

Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker 

The rally concluded with advocates, led by Sophia Booker and me, chanting their demands: “Healthy School Meals for All” and “Feed our Future!” (Check out this great video that our partner in advocacy, Justine at Greater Richmond Fit4Kids, captured of our chant!)  

After the rally, advocates returned to the General Assembly building to meet with our Senate legislative champion, Senator Danica Roem, who spent time with us discussing the status of her current anti-hunger legislation and her commitment to school nutrition programs and Healthy School Meals for All.  

Continuing the Fight

This advocacy day and rally was a reminder to lawmakers that the Virginia Healthy School Meals for All Coalition is not going away. We are a growing coalition of advocates who are diverse across identity, positionality, and geography who want to strengthen school nutrition programs and ensure Healthy School Meals for All students at no-cost. 

As we wrap up the 2025 legislative session, our commitment to educating lawmakers across the commonwealth on the impact and importance of Healthy School Meals for All only grows stronger. This advocacy day and rally highlighted the commitment we all share to ensuring our young learners can grow into the strong, healthy leaders we know they have potential to become. We look forward to continuing this movement to make young people the agenda in the halls of power alongside each of you.  

Check out the event photo album here.

Check out the event recap reel here.

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The Virginia Healthy School Meals for All Coalition is convened by Voices for Virginia’s Children and Virginia Poverty Law Center, with gracious support and funding from the American Heart Association and Voices for Healthy Kids. To get involved in the work of the coalition, contact Emily Moore (emoore@vakids.org).  

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