Ruth Truedson from the school at Grandy (Dist. No. 58) reported the following:

[We thought] it would be an impossibility in our small schoolroom, 22-1/2 feet by 29 feet and with an enrollment of fifty or more pupils. But as I heard of other schools serving hot lunches, I finally determined to introduce it in our school. I began by treating the school to the first hot lunch. After this the children all brought all the supplies from home. That did not work out entirely satisfactorily, as some pupils brought more than their share, and others less. 

Not only that, it is hard for children to carry many supplies as they generally have far to walk and have enough to carry. Neither do parents feel like paying money each day, as is customary in some schools. This year the school board decided to furnish all the supplies, except the milk, the vegetables and the meat. These the children gladly bring from home.

It is certainly a pity to let children sit and nibble a hard dry crust of bread, as is often the case, when hot lunches can be served so easily and with so little expense.

I think the time has come when hot lunches can and must be served in every rural school if we are to look for better results in our school work.

The Grandy School 2003

The hot lunch in the school is not as difficult an undertaking as it seems to be. We got a three burner kerosene stove, kettles, pans and other utensils with the money obtained at a tin-pail social. A community spelling match was held and lunch sold at ten cents. This money was used for groceries. The children bring milk, vegetables and potatoes. One of the cloak halls is used as a kitchen. The girls take turns cooking, two doing the work each day under the teacher's supervision. They pass the food to the children who remain in their seats while they eat. In this way they take more time to eat their lunch. The girls who cook and wash the dishes are responsible for the neat appearance of the kitchen when they are through.

Other testimonials to the hot lunch program spoke of the educational benefits of the experience for the students--that through preparing the meals, they learned about nutrition, food variety, rudiments of cooking and table manners.

An article in the 1921 issue of the School Navs lauds the hot lunch program, stating that students look forward to their lunch, and their happier mood is more conducive to learning; they spend three times as long eating, thus chewing and digesting their food better; and they are not so tired and hungry when they get home in the evening.