Lunch lady who lost job after feeding hungry children speaks out

AURORA, Colo. -- The Colorado lunch lady who says she lost her job for feeding hungry children for free is using her story to speak out about school lunch policies.

"If you don't charge for the food it's considered theft," she said on Good Morning America Thursday. "I understand that I won't be getting my job back because, until the policies change, I'd be breaking policy."

Curry was giving out free lunch to students who didn't qualify for the free and reduced lunch program but still did not bring money for their lunch. Policy dictates that when this happens, the student's full meal must be replaced with a cheese sandwich and milk. Curry says that's not enough, which is why she was giving away more food.

"The new policy that I believe 100 percent that I'm going to work for is that school lunch is part of a public education," she said. "It is not a separate department like it is now. It should not be separately funded."

Curry said the big problem is that kids are not learning because they are so hungry. In a Facebook post where she explained her actions, she said that she thinks better food should provided to children who don't bring lunch money.

"I will never understand how the 'best' country in the world considers a cheese sandwich to be adequate nutrition for a child," she wrote.

On GMA she said that she wants to use the attention her story has gotten to change policy so every child is guaranteed a good lunch.

"It should be the same across the board: hot, nutritious," she said.

She started a Facebook group dedicated to that cause and is devoting time to that in addition to looking for a new job.

"I never expected it to be this big, not in a million years," she said on GMA. "I can't stop now."