PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Hundreds of students in the Appleton Area School District rely on a free lunch during the school day.
But when the schools provide these meals, a “lunch debt” builds up. In Appleton’s case, the total amount is tens of thousands of dollars.
A $6,000 check donated by the Northside Neighbor to Neighbor group aims to help alleviate that debt.
“The debt at the time was in excess of $82,000,” said Cathy Kraus, a member of Northside Neighbor to Neighbor. “And we thought that was pretty significant and thought that would be a good way to get involved.”
The group held a rummage sale to raise funds from the community, with the goal of helping students in need of school-provided lunch.
Diane Wittman, district lead accountant, said the donation will go a long way.
“Getting this will help those students, and they will feel comfortable eating their breakfast and lunch. Which of course, then they do better in school,” she said.
Wittman said the debt now sits at $70,000, thanks to the fundraising and generous donations from third parties.
Wittman explained how the debt got so high.
“We have a meal policy, so if a student comes in for lunch and they don’t have enough on it, we still allow them to get a meal because we know that they’re hungry,” she explained. “That’s how it ends up getting [so high], and then they accumulate year after year.”
The district said it doesn’t have a dedicated budget for lunch debt and would need to pull funding from other programs if the number grows higher.
That lunch debt also affects students come graduation.
“They are not able to participate in the graduation if they have any debt out there,” Wittman said. “Depending. Usually we find enough donations, so we haven’t had any students for that.”
Northside Neighbor to Neighbor will continue their lunch debt fundraising efforts and will have a booth to accept further donations at the Appleton North and Kimberly football game Friday night.
The group also has 25 donation boxes at local businesses across Appleton:
- Jacob’s Meats (2 Canisters)
- Pete’s Auto
- Meade St. Bistro
- El Azteca
- Hometown Pharm
- Papa Murphy’s
- Urban Modern Kitchen
- Ebb and Flow
- Jaripeos
- Crystal Nail & Spa
- The Shrimp Shack
- China Buffet
- Mary’s Restaurant
- Black Bear Restaurant
- Pizza King
- MyMy Thai
- GingerRootz
- Apple Valley Pancakes
- Crazy Sweet
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