Help Feed School Children Hot Meals

For many children, school lunches are the most nutritious and sometimes the only meal they will receive in a day. Currently, 52% of students in LCISD qualify for free or reduced meals. However, if a child's family is unable to pay for their meal, a debt is accrued. Once the debt reaches $15.00, these children are then offered an alternate meal of a cold cheese sandwich and milk. This is a standard procedure for most districts in the Houston area, until the debt is paid off. No child should endure the guilt or embarrassment of not being able to pay for a hot lunch.

LCISD currently has 10 campuses out of 38 that are eligible for the CEP (community eligibility provision) program which entitles every child on campus a free lunch. However, the other 18 campuses do NOT have this privilege and NO secondary schools are currently eligible for the program.

Please join me in helping to ease the burden of these families and ensuring these kids get a full hot meal each day. It is a small, but meaningful gift we can offer to our community and local public schools. It'll also help ease the burden on our school district and food service staff who do not like turning children away.

Many of us may have endured similar situations as a child or may know someone who has. We may even remember asking a friend to lend us lunch money or may have even lent money. This is especially common amongst middle and high schoolers.

As of March 8, 2017, the Lamar CISD lunch debt for children who are at risk of losing a hot meal and have a debt over $10.00 is $15,519.88.

I am working directly with the LCISD Food Service Director to help alleviate this debt. I'm also working with LCISD Common Threads which is a non-profit clothing assistance program for students at Lamar CISD. They will help with the distribution of funds to the needed student accounts and will also take your donation if your feel more comfortable directly donating to them. Please contact Jill Duban at [email redacted]. She will be able to assist you with your donation. However, let her know that you want to donate for the gofundme school lunch debt initiative managed by Amina Ishaq.

Please help if you can, and if you are unable to donate that's okay! Just please share!

Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

“Those of us who are warm and dry and safe and well fed must show up for those who are cold and wet and endangered and hungry. That’s a rule of life. Every ethical and religious and spiritual tradition in the world agrees on that rule.” -E.G.