<P> The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (79 P.L. 396, 60 Stat. 230) is a United States federal law that created the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to provide low - cost or free school lunch meals to qualified students through subsidies to schools . The program was established as a way to prop up food prices by absorbing farm surpluses, while at the same time providing food to school age children . It was named after Richard Russell, Jr., signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in 1946, and entered the federal government into schools dietary programs on June 4, 1946 . </P> <P> The majority of the support provided to schools participating in the program comes in the form of a cash reimbursement for each meal served . Schools are also entitled to receive commodity foods and additional commodities as they are available from surplus agricultural stocks . The National School Lunch Program serves 30.5 million children each day at a cost of $8.7 billion for fiscal year 2007 . Most participants are also eligible for food during the summer through the Summer Food Service Program . </P>

When did the free school lunch program start