[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I can probably explain this, though if somebody is more informed free to correct me. The idea of getting this kind of demographical information is for a varity of reasons:

1) so that the organization can see what kind of students are involved or underrepresented in FIRST, and try to bring these students in with programs or whatnot

2) A lot of schools have funding capabilities that are very closely related to the number of students on free/reduced lunch in some way. By getting a feel for the demographic information of teams in any given area, the organization can use this information to talk to sponsors and again, gear some work towards everyone.

Please note that I'm not trying to be prejudiced in any way with this. I know members of my own team have great difficulty finding money to attend competitions and afford team activities, and we don't have very many, if any, students on reduced lunch who have to try to afford that. I speak from a financial perspective.