Couple's donation helps pay off lunch debts of Brevard County students
Students in Brevard County received a gift over the holiday break that they will feel in their heart and their belly.
Local attorney, Michael Kahn and his wife, Roma, decided to pay the entire outstanding student lunch debt for the Brevard County School District, at a whopping $7,600. The couple says they watched a documentary where students were mocked by classmates for not having lunch money.
Roma says she even watched as cafeteria workers (in the documentary) humiliated students.
"The cafeteria worker took food off of the tray and threw it into a bin underneath the cash register. Because the debt was more than $15 the child could not have that particular lunch. That was just very emotional and just drove the point that we needed to do something," Roma Kahn tells FOX 35 News.
The Kahn’s donation paid the debt for nearly 4,700 lunches. The Brevard Schools Foundation started the “Lunch Angels” program, that seeks donors to assist in paying down mounting lunch debts. Allowing families who may be struggling financially to have one less thing to worry about. It also allows students to worry about school and not their next meal.
Janice Kershaw, the president of the Foundation says the program has a huge impact because she says 54% of the county’s students are on a free or reduced lunch price program.