This IS the way it used to be I had a friend in HS her family was very poor, I went with them one day to get their food, it was a warehouse where they were given blocks of cheese, flour, powdered milk, beans, rice, ect. I think she told me that they went twice a week during certain hours after going there with her I had her to my house for dinner OFTEN we became very good friends!!! It USED to be embarrassing for people to be on food assistance but those days are LONG GONE!!!!
At the end of the month, they’d give the excess cheese and stuff to anyone who wanted it. THE BEST CHEESE EVER!
The school would get government peanut butter (before anyone had allergies). There would be some form of peanut butter on every tray - a big fresh made pb cookie, a pb jelly sandwich for later, an apple with a blob of pb, a little Dixie cup of government pb and government honey for your fresh made from scratch hot yeast roll that was to die for, etc.