Gastonia Church Raises Thousands For School Lunch Debt
All around our country, families are in debt. Sadly, one of the debts that affect children are school lunch debt. Although I wasn’t a teacher for long, there were many days I saw kids not eating lunch at school. They’d say they weren’t hungry, but when I looked into it a bit further, I found out that many kids cafeteria accounts were in the negative. It’s a travesty to me that here in America we have kids that don’t get the proper nutrition. A church in Gastonia feels the same way I do, and the members stepped up big time for local kids.
City Church Lead Pastor Dickie Spargo and his wife were very upset when they read that North Carolina students owed more than $1 million in lunch debts. They decided to help! According to WCNC, Pastor Spargo called Gaston County schools and found out that the school lunch debt was over $13,000. He then went to his congregation and told people about the need in the community.
The congregation showed their love and the church raised over $23,000 to pay off the debt. According to Spargo, the current debt will be paid off and any extra monies will go towards the 2023/2024 school year.
Gaston County Schools, and other schools around the country, try their best to work with parents and make sure kids have food. The BackPack Program helps, but there is still a need in every community for funds and food donations.
A few years ago I set up a GoFundMe campaign called ‘Lunch Love’ to raise funds for Gaston County. I let it run a few weeks, but I only raised $800. Still, that’s food for kids! When I was teaching, I worked in a Title One school in Gastonia. This means that most of my students were from low-income families. Lots of kids were dealing with problems at home or in their neighborhood.
I had two kids come in one day and they told me they didn’t sleep much the night before because there was someone shooting at their apartment complex. Many of my students had at least one parent in jail. The last thing they needed to worry about was when they’d eat next. NO kid should have to worry about that. Often, school is the only place many kids have a hot meal.
In March, North Carolina lawmakers filed a bill to reduce school lunch debt statewide. I hope it passes. If you, your neighbors, your church, or your office wants to donate funds to help kids in our area, you can reach out to the school system where you live and find out the lunch debt. Or you can do what I did and start a GoFundMe and donate funds to your local school system.
Kudos to Pastor Spargo and his congregation! Thank you for caring and thank you for stepping up!