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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCouple pays $5,495 owed for lunches at Marysville schools
MARYSVILLE On Friday, Tom and Christy Lee called the Marysville School District, intending to pay off the lunch money debt for the students at Kellogg Marsh Elementary School. They asked how much debt had accrued.
We actually figured it would be $2,000 for Kellogg Marsh, Christy Lee said. We were shocked when it was only $259.
They went to the district offices to make their donation. While there, they asked what they thought was the obvious next question: How much would it take to pay off the debt for every elementary kid in the district?
The answer: $5,495 for 262 kids in 10 schools.
They said theyd go home to talk about it, Tom Lee said. It turned out they didnt need to.
In the car, Tom and Christy agreed. We already knew we were going to do it, he said.
We came home, poured a cup of coffee and called them back, he said.
http://www.heraldnet.com/news/couple-pays-5495-owed-for-lunches-at-marysville-schools/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=7d9d9737cb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-7d9d9737cb-228635337
Initech
(99,912 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)Giving people
jeffreyi
(1,934 posts)Phentex
(16,330 posts)radio station wants to do the same.
progressoid
(49,825 posts)Imagine if we paid people a living wage instead?
WoonTars
(694 posts)And actually provided their students with the necessary supplies?
LiberalArkie
(15,686 posts)IronLionZion
(45,256 posts)they have a long history of socialism and value things like universal education so they wanted to encourage poor families to send their starving kids to school by providing free lunch. Some schools even give free lunches on weekends and holidays. It improves the nutrition/health of children and produces a more educated population that has driven their economy to become the world's largest middle class.
But some here in the US would like tax cuts instead. Kids can eat tax cuts, right?
Phentex
(16,330 posts)people will donate to a gofundme but they will not consider just having taxes pay for school lunches.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/stories-worth-sharing/school-lunch-debt-fundraising-spreads-to-everett-marysville/440103223
A Seattle parent's GoFundMe project seeking to erase Seattle's school lunch debt reached its goal in just five days. Now, other parents are following his lead and starting fundraisers of their own.
Parents and educators in Everett and Marysville have started campaigns to help eradicate lunch debt in their school districts.
School lunch debt is accumulated when a child orders a meal at school but is unable to pay for it. The school won't turn the child away, but it won't give the child a full meal, and it will send a bill to their parents.
If a parent is already unable to send their child to school with lunch money, receiving the invoice from the school creates a bigger problem.
On his GoFundMe page, Lew wrote, "It is an awful thing and it should not be happening. Children need to eat regardless if they have money or not."
Lew originally started his campaign with the goal of paying off his child's school's $97 lunch debt. Then, his idea grew to include all of Seattle, which had a debt of around $21,000. He reached his goal Saturday, just five days after launching his campaign.
LisaM
(27,758 posts)I've seen people flog all kinds of stuff on crowdfunding sites. I have such mixed feelings about them. I get that they can give people a shot in the arm when they need it, but I absolutely don't understand the paternalistic attitude towards "choosing your charities", versus just paying $50 more per year in taxes and having it spread out to create some baseline necessities for people.
WhiteTara
(29,676 posts)about them? Useless little eaters!
progressoid
(49,825 posts)elmac
(4,642 posts)asking for money for so and so's medical expenses it saddens me that this goes on in the richest nation on Earth. Life is cheap in the USA.
Stuart G
(38,359 posts)FairWinds
(1,717 posts)state, that is.
in the city of DC - not so much.
DFW
(54,050 posts)The problem is that none of them work on Capitol Hill.
FSogol
(45,356 posts)Last edited Tue May 16, 2017, 07:09 PM - Edit history (1)
their money or couldn't pay. It was a nice supplement to a lot of families. If some kid consistently couldn't pay, they'd send someone to their house to help them sign up for free/reduced price lunches. Whenever I was in the office for something, I'd dump whatever I had in my wallet into the fund.
PTAs in other areas need to step up.
iluvtennis
(19,757 posts)Jakes Progress
(11,121 posts)They make policy out of the lowest part of human nature.
Hekate
(90,189 posts)...to buy a bomber.
The above is a bumper sticker from 40-plus years ago. We should be so ashamed.
Bless Tom and Christy Lee.
Cha
(295,899 posts)are giving back like this.. especially for the kids.