Steve and I are vegans and all three of our kids are vegetarians, so throughout our transition to adopting a cruelty-free lifestyle, one recurring struggle has been making sure that the kids have lunch options at school. Our school district has assured us that there should be at least one vegetarian option available each day, but it is common for them not to keep their word; as many days, the kids report having to pick pepperoni off of pizza or just eating the fruit cup. Lately, they have been bringing lunch with them; which is always cool with us, though the boys seem to prefer the "fun" of eating in the cafeteria for some reason.

Our son Aidan has even started a petition to send to the school district asking for a vegetarian menu in addition to the choices already provided. He already has close to 100 signatures and nearly all of the students who have signed it are omnivores, but wouldn't mind having vegetarian options themselves. Due to our background with the veggie lunch situation, I was quite pleased to hear (via The Huffington Post) that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, who is a vegan himself, recently lobbied Congress to add vegetarian options to school lunches, and sent a letter to Rep. George Miller, chair of the House of Education and Labor Committee to support the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act.

The Committee on Education and Labor responded to Stone's letter via Twitter, tweeting that the goal of the reauthorization is to "improve children's access to healthy and affordable meals at school."

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has released a video advocating healthier school lunches, which has aired on TV in Rep. Miller's district. Sign the petition here.