Andrew Levy is a real estate agent who does a lot of business in the Juniper, Florida area. He told reporters that when he heard more than 400 kids in the Juniper school system had school lunch debt, he decided he would see if he had enough to cover it. Levy explained that while based in Palm Beach Gardens, he has spent so much time working in Juniper he fell in love with the community there and wanted to do something for them. He told CBS Miami that he found out that the district needed a little under $1,000, so he walked in and paid it off. He told WPTV that it was a “small sum to pay to make a lot of people happy … then it will be worth every penny.”
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While Donald Trump may not want to fight the wars of diplomacy needed to save lives around the world, his administration has been keen on waging a war on kids who need their lunch meals. Many school systems deal with lunch debt, accrued by students, by creating a two-tier food system. If you haven’t paid your lunch debt you cannot get certain food options during lunch time. It’s a terrible system that shames students and creates an anxiety over food and eating that no one, let alone school children, should have to experience.
Some states are trying to figure out ways to do away with the stigma of subsidized lunches. California recently created a law to stop schools from creating “alternative meals,” for students with lunch debt. This is a nice step but it is simply a Band-Aid for an issue that could easily be solved by making school lunches free to everyone, regardless of economic station.