Food For Thought: Free School Lunches 

Kids can’t learn on an empty stomach, so with our partners Armonk2Africa, we started a free school lunch program called Food for Thought to feed all 600 students at Esilalei Primary School a hot nutritious meal of corn and beans every day. Most of the children in our Environmental Education Program schools were unable to pay for school lunch, and the kids went the entire school day without eating. School lunches improve children's attention spans and capacity to learn. Since beginning Food for Thought, attendance is up, and kids even come to the school during holidays for the lunch. 

After a full year of successful free lunches at Esilalei, the kids are healthier and happier, so we expanded the program to two additional primary schools, Jangwani (700 students) and Baraka (600 students). We are now providing lunches to a total of 1,900 kids every single day of the school year. These three schools are located within savanna rangelands of the Tarangire Ecosystem that are important movement routes for wildebeests, zebras, and elands, as well as giraffe and elephants. They are critical for wildlife conservation and these communities also experience conflicts with wildlife.

Our partners in the Food for Thought School Lunch Program are: Armonk2Africa, and Manyara's Secret.