Minnesota Woman Raises Money for School Lunch IOUs
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — A Sartell mother was surprised it took just an hour on social media to raise hundreds of dollars to pay off student lunch debt at a St. Cloud elementary school.
The St. Cloud Times reports that Sara Greenberg-Hassan began raising money for Madison Elementary School on a crowd funding website after she attended lunch with her kindergartner son and learned that students receive bag lunches when their accounts are in debt.
In one hour, she raised $400 to cover the outstanding debt. She then increased the goal amount to cover debt for the rest of the school year. More than 20 donors raised $935 by Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Minnesota Department of Education, nearly 70 percent of Madison Elementary School students are eligible for free and reduced lunch.