Jessica Lawton and friends are picking up the tab for families who can’t afford their kids’ lunch at Cobleskill-Richmondville.
And Ms. Lawton is picking up the check for C-R, too.
For the third straight year, Ms. Lawton is raising money to pay off students’ school cafeteria debt and hopes to have donations ready by Christmas.
C-R allows students to eat lunch even if they can’t pay. But the school district absorbs the costs if families can’t pay by the end of the school year.
Ms. Lawton last year raised $3,525 in her Christmas drive, and that amount more than paid the debt at Ryder School. The rest went to pay down debt at the high school, Radez and Golding.
“So many people reached out to help,” Ms. Lawton said.
The goal is the same this year: Pay off as much cafeteria debt as possible to help families and the school district.
She starts the drive the week before her birthday––October 21––and urges friends and family to donate to the drive instead of buying gifts.
Then Ms. Lawton goes public.
“It’s not the kids’ fault or the family’s fault that they can’t pay,” she said. “If there was more awareness, more people would help.”
Like other schools, C-R has a free and reduced-price meal program for needy students. Ms. Lawton’s concern, however, is for the families who are just over the income guidelines for free and reduced.
“There’s a huge gray area of families who are working hard to make ends meet but need help,” she said.
Ms. Lawton suspects the need is growing, and Becky Dostie, Ryder guidance counselor, agreed. Ms. Lawton works with Ms. Dostie on her lunch-money drive.
“Speaking for Ryder, it struck me that this year there seem to be more families in the ‘homeless’ category,” Ms. Dostie said.
And, Ms. Dostie added, most people aren’t aware that the school absorbs the cost, so Ms. Lawton’s drive aids both needy families and C-R.
“I love her energy,” Ms. Dostie said of Ms. Lawton. “She has a heart for this, and she fills a great need.”
To donate, contact Ms. Lawton at 518-229-0208, or on the GoFundMe site, go to 3rd Annual School Lunch for Christmas.