National Coverage of Our Work: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The conversation around free meals for all children has reached new heights, entering the national stage as part of the presidential campaign. It’s a topic we at New Mexico Appleseed have long championed, and we are proud to see it become a critical issue in shaping policies for the future of our children. For years, we’ve advocated for universal free meals, not just as a program to reduce hunger, but as a fundamental right that ensures every child can learn, grow, and thrive without the barrier of food insecurity. It’s incredibly rewarding to see the seeds we planted contributing to the national dialogue.

We were especially honored to have played a key role in informing the broader public about these issues through major media platforms. On September 8, 2024, New Mexico Appleseed was a major source for John Oliver's segment on HBO’s *Last Week Tonight*, which highlighted the ongoing struggles related to school meal programs. The show underscored the injustices of lunch shaming—where students are denied meals or humiliated because they can’t afford them—and revealed the profound consequences of children going hungry at school. The exposure from this segment helped shed light on how children have even been punished by being barred from prom, graduation, or simply missing out on a meal due to unpaid lunch debt.

School meals as a national issue is a result of the years of work New Mexico Appleseed has dedicated to advocating for equity in school meal programs. We have worked tirelessly to show policymakers, communities, and now the nation why feeding children at school should never be a matter of debate. Without our dedicated research, policy proposals, and on-the-ground efforts, much of this conversation might not be happening at this level. Now, as we look to the future, we are more determined than ever to ensure every child has access to free, nutritious meals so they can focus on learning, not on where their next meal is coming from.

We were proud to be featured and took it as another sign that we are doing the right work in the right way.