And now a message from the lunch ladies...

[CoffeeCat]

In the monthly newsletter from my children's elementary school, there was a small paragraph. It
was buried in the newsletter, and it may have gone unnoticed by many, but it grabbed my attention.

This small paragraph warned parents needed to watch the balances on their children's school-lunch
accounts, because many accounts were dipping below zero.

Zero balances are an ordeal for kids. It is embarrassing to stand in the lunch line with your peers, get your card
swiped--and then be told that there is no money in your lunch account.

When this happens, children are served the lunch, but they are handed a slip to deliver to their parents--
which serves as a reminder to add funds.

The paragraph in the newsletter further revealed that many lunch accounts are getting below $20 and that new
action will be taken if this happens. Normally, if the account is that depleted, the student isn't allowed
to eat. Now--if the account is below $20, the student will be given a small sack lunch (a cheese sandwich, milk and
a banana)--at no charge.

The school said this measure was taken, because these below-$20 balances are becoming more frequent--and
the school didn't want children going hungry.

All of this really struck me, because I live in the suburbs. This Midwestern town has many McMansions, two big
water parks funded by taxpayer dollars and manicured street islands that bloom with flowers in the spring. Our
suburb has the highest per capita income, of any city in our state.

Dave Ramsey, a financial adviser on Fox News, recently said, "America's biggest secret is that the upper-middle class
is flat broke, and soon America's dirty little secret won't be a secret any more--and it's going to be painful."

It seems that those sack lunches--with cheese sandwiches and bananas--demonstrate that this secret is seeping out.

As I waited to pick up my children, sitting in a long line of vehicles, I realized that many of the
people sitting in those $30,000 minivans and $40,000 SUVs--are having trouble putting $10 or $20 in their
child's school-lunch account.

That small blurb in the newsletter was meant for the parents at our neighborhood Elementary school, but
those words are really a reality check and a wake-up call for the entire nation.