Statement of Ms. Ollie Motley, Illinois food-service worker, at the USDA listening session in Chicago, Illinois. September 10, 2008.

My name is Ollie Motley and I'm a cashier in the cafeteria at Lincoln Elementary School in Dixmoor, Illinois. In our school district, most of the kids qualify for the free lunch program. That means not only the workers, but the students are depending on the money we get from the federal government.

I'm 66 years old and I thought I would be getting ready to retire by now, but I'm raising three of my grandkids, which means on my small wages I can't save enough to retire.

I've worked in food service for the school district for 36 years, and during that time I've seen my wages go down rather than up. I used to make $10.13 an hour and have 2 weeks paid vacation; but in 2006, our wages were cut and now I'm paid $7.75 an hour for 5 and a half hours of work a day and I have no benefits. This year I became old enough to get Medicare, but before that I had no health insurance.

I say I'm paid for 5 and a half hours a day rather than I work 5 and a half hours because I actually work more than that, I just don't get paid for it. There are only 4 of us working in a kitchen that serves as many as 400 students and teachers a day. With so few of us, we have to work on our unpaid time or we wouldn't be able to prepare all the food and feed all the kids.

By the time we finish serving breakfast, we have to rush to get lunch ready and then we have to serve the food until it's time to clean up and leave. We are supposed to have a 30 minute unpaid lunch break, but I have to work through my lunch every day. If I take a break, either the kids' lunch won't be ready or there will be no cashier because there's no one to cover for me.

On top of that, I'm in charge of keeping an accurate count of the number of students who eat meals each day. There's no time to fill out the paperwork during the work day, so I take the forms home and fill them out on my own time. I know that count is very important because it is used to determine how much money the school gets from the federal government for the meal program, so I do it on my own time for the good of the kids, but I shouldn't have to.

And what if I wasn't here? Would someone else do this job for such low pay with no benefits and really take care of these kids? I don't think that's a risk we should keep taking - not when our kids' health depends on it.

For schools like mine to be able to provide nutritious meals to students, the federal government needs to give schools more money to pay for quality food and enough workers - at least fifty cents more for each lunch - and we need regular increases in that money to keep up with the rising cost of food.

I know how much the kids in my community depend on the meals I help prepare for them. Kids tell me all the time that lunch is the last meal they will get that day and I try to give those kids a little extra. How can they learn if they don't get enough food?

After 36 years, I can't quit on the kids. That's why I'm here today trying to make things better. These kids are my neighbors and part of my community. I am asking you not to quit on these kids either. They need you to make sure that their schools can provide them the nutritious meals they need to grow and learn.