Pay off FHS's negative school lunch balances

Hi, my name is Gina-Marie. Fallston High School class of '99. Daughter of a Fallston lunch lady.

This is going to get long. I appreciate your attention.

FHS is a school with a student body from a wide range of economic backgrounds. As a student at FHS who came from a less well-off area, the division was clear. I understand the gap has widened since then.

My mother was a lunch lady at FHS while my sister and I attended the school. That little job got us through school without hunger after my father was laid off by the company that moved us to Maryland.

You could say that food is essential to me. Food is vital to everyone. Some of us have experienced hunger and food insecurity more often than we'd like to admit. Unfortunately, this issue followed me through college and into my early 20s. While my mother's part-time work at the FHS cafeteria got me through the hard times at home, I often relied on the kindness and generosity of my close friends at college and after graduation to get me through the worst of it. Such cycles are persistent and hard to break.

So when I was finally financially stable in my 30s in Tokyo, I decided to give back. A few years ago, I started a partnership with FHS to pay off the negative balances for school lunches at the end of each calendar year. It wasn't more than I could afford. Before the pandemic, the amounts were relatively low, between $200 and $400 each year. I didn't mind. It was the least I could do to help students in a similar situation to my personal experience.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed by Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic was a wonderful surprise - it guaranteed that no (or perhaps fewer) families would have to deal with negative balances or food insecurity for a while, at least. For a year or two, I didn't need to give any money to even out the negative balances.

It just ended on June 30th. I imagined there might be some unpaid lunch balances on the books at FHS after that, so I got back in touch with them to ask if there was any need I could help with this year.

To call the response I received 'appalling' would be an understatement. It's been six months. The negative balances since that date total $3,179.33.

WHAT. In the actual ... ?!

I can only imagine being a parent caught off guard by the disappearance of that support. And I remember going to school without breakfast or not having dinner sometimes. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

This year, this is an amount I can't afford to pay off on my own. I am telling you about this specific situation and the thing I've been doing because I would like to ask for help.

I'm asking all of my friends, but I'm especially asking my FHS alumni friends. Can you help?

I am holding this fundraiser here on GoFundMe to ask the FHS community for help. I hate that I can't do this alone this year. It's always embarrassing to talk about how much money we do or don't have, just like it's embarrassing to say that I experienced food insecurity as a young person and student. But I hate children going hungry much more, so I'm going there. This number is too much. And this is something that could affect any of us at any time.

FHS is one school of so many.

I get it if you don't want to donate to some random school. But if this made you wonder about what's going on at your kids' school, I hope you'll contact their Food and Nutrition office to find out if the situation is the same for them.

Again, thank you for your attention. And thanks if you can help. The students and families don't need to know our names. But anyone who has ever received anonymous help in the past knows any and all help is appreciated.