Henry County Schools Now Have “Share Carts”

 
 
By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
 
Paris, Tenn.—All of the schools in the Henry County Schools district now have ‘share tables’ in their cafeteria and students are being encouraged to share their unwanted lunch items with others.
 
Rather than throw out unopened, unwanted items, students now have the opportunity to leave them for others.
 
Karen Wilson of the district’s Coordinated School Health program said the USDA approved share tables in 2012 “and we tried it out at different schools, but now we’ve officially started it in all of our schools.”
 
Students can share any pre-packaged items, such as muffins or crackers, or fruit. “If they don’t like those or they’ve had enough to eat, they can leave it on the share table for someone who didn’t get enough to eat,” Wilson said. The USDA requires that any items that are shared are those in sealed containers or fresh fruit.
 
Each school in the county system will have its own way of displaying their share carts, with signs explaining their purpose. For example, at Henry School, Principal David Kibbler has placed the share cart along with a small refrigerator.
 
The items on the share care are given by students for other students and are free.
 
Photo: At Henry School, the ‘share cart’ comes with a small refrigerator. (Henry Schools photo).