Greenfield-Central schools are seeking the community’s help to pay down student lunch debt
GREENFIELD — Greenfield-Central schools are seeking the community’s help to pay down student lunch debt.
“After two years of pandemic-era free breakfast and lunch for all students, families are still struggling to bounce back,” said Amanda Stout, the corporation’s director of food services.
As of Friday, Feb. 3, Stout said 254 student meal accounts were in the red — which translates to roughly 5% of the school system’s 4,300 total students.
A benefit dinner is planned for Feb. 18 to raise money for the corporation’s Feed the Future fund, which was established in 2017 to help mitigate student lunch debt.
Free-will donations will be collected starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Greenfield-Central High School cafeteria, where guests can enjoy breaded pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, dinner rolls and baked apples. All proceeds will go towards the Feed the Future fund.
Stout is hoping for a big turnout, especially among fans attending that night’s home boys’ basketball games.
Greenfield-Central’s business manager, Nate Day, said Feed the Future has been helping pay lunch debts for the past six years, but hosting fundraisers and soliciting donations was instituted just this year due to the increased need.
“Through the years various private donors have reached out to the school about wanting to help with unpaid meal balances … but this is the first time we have made an overt public appeal for donations,” Day said.
Feed the Future has raised nearly $10,600 since its inception, through a combination of donations and debt collections. Seven private donors have given a collective $837 toward the fund so far this school year.
Since August, 44 students have received a donation to cover their unpaid meal balances.
Greenfield-Central requires that all unpaid meal charges be paid off by the last school day of the month. If not paid, accounts delinquent by $50 or more have traditionally been sent to a collections agency which works through payment options with families.
Starting this year, Stout has given families the option of using Feed the Future funds to pay off accounts that dip below the negative $50 mark by the month’s end.
Stout said that once a student receives a one-time donation from Feed the Future, if the unpaid meal balance for a one-month period exceeds $50 again, the account is sent to a collections agency.
In the past, Feed the Future was used to assist families who reached out for support, said Day, but this new approach is more proactive.
“We also used some of the Feed the Future funds to bring everyone’s accounts back to zero during the pandemic, so everybody started with a fresh slate as the universal (free meal) program expired,” he said, adding that roughly $2,300 was used in the process.
Inspired to help
Stout said she and some colleagues hatched the idea to host fundraisers for the debt relief program while attending an Indiana School Nutrition Association conference last June.
“School nutrition professionals from across the state talked a lot about how districts were going to have to combat unpaid meal balances after two years of free breakfast and lunch for all students,” said Stout, referencing the two-year period in which the federal government provided free school lunches for all students, regardless of family income.
“Collectively, we discussed various fundraising opportunities that could be held locally. Our team landed on a benefit dinner within the community because it supports one of our core values, which is to serve. We also launched the ability to donate online for anyone who feels a call to action throughout the year,” she said.
Stout understands that some families are struggling due to economic challenges that have persisted since the onset of COVID nearly three years ago, especially after the federal program offering free meals for all students stopped at the end of last school year.
“There was a knowledge gap with some families not realizing that the universal program had ended and a readjustment period for those who got used to not paying,” she said, adding that more families have qualified for meal benefits this year.
Greenfield-Central’s food service department is financially self-supportive from the school district and is operated under the federally funded National School Lunch Act and Child Nutrition Act, which lays out regulations regarding unpaid meal debt and how to handle meal charges.
The school system follows federal regulations for National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs when it comes to providing meals for students who are unable to pay.
Students in preschool through sixth grade can charge breakfast and lunch daily, while students in grades seven through 12 can charge up to four meals, said Stout.
“However, students with an unpaid balance are not allowed to charge elective snack or ‘a la carte’ items that are in addition to the core meal options,” she said. “We do not turn away a student with the inability to pay for a meal. This has been a standard practice at G-C schools since the 2017-18 school year.”
As for the long-term goal in managing lunch debt, Day said the school system will continue to advertise and advocate for the current Free and Reduced Meal program to support eligible families in need.
“We are also educating the public about the fact that the universal program ended post pandemic,” said Day. “Legislation has been discussed at the federal level to reauthorize the Universal School Lunch program that existed during the pandemic. Unfortunately, there will likely be families in need moving forward so we will continue to use the tools available to assist in paying for meals.”
Stout said a student’s prepaid account becomes inactive when a student withdrawals from the corporation, graduates, or after nine weeks with no transaction activity. “In order to receive remaining prepaid meal account funds, requests must be made within 60 days of becoming inactive. Families have the opportunity to receive a refund or donate the remaining funds to Feed the Future,” she said.
To donate to the fund, visit EZSchoolPay.com and create an account or continue as a guest and search for Greenfield-Central Schools. Select “Feed the Future Donation” and enter the amount you wish to donate. All donors will receive a digital confirmation receipt for tax purposes.
