D.C. “Lunch-In” Protests Federal Guidelines That Denied a Four-Year-Old Her ‘Nana and Juice Box

Protesters to Resist Government, Eat Homemade Lunches

Washington, D.C. – Concerned parents and their supporters will be having a “lunch-in” on Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. at noon on Thursday, February 23 to protest federal school nutrition guidelines that allegedly forced at least one student to forgo her mother’s home-packed lunch in favor of chicken nuggets.

Thursday’s protest is part of The National Center for Public Policy Research’s “Occupy Occupy D.C.” events at Freedom Plaza. The National Center obtained a five-week permit from the U.S. Park Service that forces the Occupy D.C. encampment to share the park between February 12 and March 15.

“Even though my four-year-old and two-year-old will both be starting at public schools in a few months, I did not agree to let the government make every decision about how they are raised,” said National Center Internet consultant Jennifer Biddison, who is planning to bring her kids to Freedom Plaza for the seditious lunch. “Just because I choose to let government schools teach my kids math and reading doesn’t mean I want them to dictate other things such as how they will eat and how they will dress. I’m quite content with the way I am raising them, and I ask the government to honor my choices in such family matters.”

On January 30, during a visit by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official to West Hoke Elementary School in Raeford, North Carolina, a four-year-old girl’s lunch – made by her mother – was determined to not meet federal nutritional requirements. The lunch consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, potato chips and apple juice. The girl subsequently went through the school’s lunch line, where she received a lunch that included chicken nuggets.

Those attending the National Center’s lunch-in will be eating the same types of items packed for the little girl in Raeford, North Carolina on January 30.

“It’s trendy for nursing mothers to engage in group breastfeedings to protest businesses that don’t accommodate them,” said David Almasi, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research and director of the National Center’s “Occupy Occupy DC” project. “It’s becoming very clear that these mothers’ abilities to feed their children on their own terms are more at risk later in life. We plan to eat the same lunch as that little girl brought to school, and do it on federal land. I challenge Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to come try to take my lunch away from me.”

The National Center For Public Policy Research (https://nationalcenter.org) is a conservative, free-market, non-profit think-tank established in 1982. It is supported by the voluntary gifts of over 100,000 individual recent supporters, receiving about one percent of its revenue from corporate sources. Contributions to it are tax-deductible.

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The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.