It's 11:30 a.m. and the first group of hungry kids enters the Elizabeth City Middle School cafeteria for lunch.
Behind the counter, Maria Griffin's familiar face greets the students, ready to ask each what they want on their tray.
“I see that they do respect me. Yes, they do," said Griffin, the longtime Cafeteria Manager for ECMS. “Middle school is when they try to find themselves. You got some you can talk to and get them on the right track.”
She and her staff feed hundreds of teens and preteens each day and some, they've learned, rely a little bit more on what's coming out of the kitchen. Meals at home aren't guaranteed.
“Even those children that you don’t think that they’d have any struggles at all, you don’t know. You just don’t know," said Tammy Rinehart, Director of Nutrition for Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools.
Enough of the district's 5,400 or so students are considered low-income that all ECPPS schools are part of what's called the Community Eligibility Provision or CEP. It's a federal program that allows all students to eat for free, whether they qualify or not.
But, like we've all seen at the grocery store, the cost to feed all those children continues to go up.
According to recent Consumer Price Index numbers, food costs across the board are up around five percent, year-to-year.
“Last year, I think most everything had increased 30 percent. Some things had doubled in price," said Rinehart, adding that proteins especially increased. “Cheese, the price of meat, eggs.”
At the same time, the Keep Kids Fed Act, which supported school meal programs after the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, expired in June. It means that, this year, the federal government is reimbursing schools 40 cents less for each lunch and 15 cents less for each breakfast.
They're meals that, by law, have to meet certain standards — five components for lunch, for example, in which students have to take three including a fruit or vegetable.
Rinehart says assembling those meals costs the district on average $4.26 to $5.00 each, depending on what's being served. However, she says, the district only gets some of that reimbursed because, though every student eats for free, only those who qualify for free lunch are reimbursed at the highest level.
“Just for a case of trays last week, we paid double than what we were supposed to have paid because of short supply," said Rinehart, who is also Vice President of North Carolina's School Nutrition Association.
She says districts across the northeastern part of the state are facing similar issues. She tells News 3 that some partner up to keep costs down.
In Elizabeth City, Rinehart remains fully staffed, but keeps positions limited to save money. Cafeterias also sell food a la carte to bring in revenue. Then, they reach out to farmers close by.
"We do a large Farm-to-School program so that kind of cuts out the middleman," she said.
ECPPS has used the program for educational purposes too.
Thursday, the district held a Farm-to-School Expo at Pasquotank High School, connecting first and second graders to local farmers so they could learn about where the food in their school meals comes from.
Across the state line in Chesapeake, the Farm-to-School program is having a similar impact.
Larry Wade, Director of School Nutrition Services for Chesapeake Public Schools, points to a concept called Harvest of the Month which focuses on different locally-grown produce each month.
"This month is green peppers and the green peppers we’re serving in the school are from local farmers," Wade told News 3.
He says 24 of 45 Chesapeake schools fall into the Community Eligibility Provision program that allows students to eat free. However, in the wake of higher food costs, he says the students who still pay for lunch are paying about ten cents more this school year.
“Our cost of meals for the paying student has to be in line with what the USDA recommends and so we are having to increase our prices," said Wade.
His work navigating inflation is the latest challenge he's faced in a 40-year career.
Food manufacturer General Mills recently honored Wade as one of its school nutrition "Trayblazers," but he's quick to turn the attention to his staff.
“I celebrate the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing professionals in school nutrition," said Wade. “We are simply a restaurant trying to ensure that we keep our doors open by providing meals that our students like. We are constantly looking for ways to improve.”
That's because, in this industry, he says it really is all about the children.
Back in Elizabeth City, Stacy Poole sends her two children, Liliana and Jameson, to high school and elementary school each day. Then, she heads to work at Elizabeth City Middle School as Assistant Cafeteria Manager.
“I don’t have to worry about packing lunches at home. I know that they’re being fed good meals. Because I work in the cafeteria, I know where our food comes from. I know how it’s prepared. I know how it tastes," she told News 3.
It's a quality she and her team refuse to sacrifice. A mission that will continue after her manager, Griffin, retires in December after 30 years with the district.
Rinehart says her average employee in the Nutrition department at Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools has been there for 14 years, long enough to see the students they serve grow from children to adults.
It's a daily inspiration to keep going as financial challenges mount.
“We’re not gonna give up. We will find ways to scrimp. We will find ways to make it," said Rinehart. "(If) I’m not gonna serve it to my grandkids, I’m not gonna serve it to these children. They are our kids.”
