Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 1 February

American Living:

No free lunch: Donors come forward to erase students’ debts

MARY ESCH price lunches, but even city’s schools. response has been mostly their lunch money or par-
Associated Press that 40 cents was hard to “It seemed like a really easy positive, with really sweet ents who can afford to pay
Ashley C. Ford felt driven get together with four kids. way to make a positive dif- notes from people who do- but neglect to keep pre-
to act by a sad fact of life There were times I wouldn’t ference locally,” said Drap- nate,” she said. paid accounts up to date.
in the nation’s school caf- eat because I didn’t have er, who has no children. Children from the poor- Most school districts allow
eterias: Kids with unpaid children to run a tab for a
lunch accounts are often certain number of meals if
embarrassed with a substi- they come up short. Oth-
tute meal of a cold cheese ers give them an alter-
sandwich and a carton of nate meal of a cheese or
milk. peanut butter sandwich
Ford, a New York City writ- and fruit. If parents ignore
er, appealed to her 66,000 school notices about their
Twitter followers with a solu- child’s overdrawn lunch
tion. “A cool thing you can account, the debt may be
do today is try to find out sent to a collection agen-
which of your local schools cy. Ultimately, taxpayers
have kids with overdue may have to cover it.
lunch accounts and pay According to a 2016 sur-
them off.” vey of 1,000 school meal
In the nearly two months program operators by the
since, people around the School Nutrition Associa-
country have been inspired tion, about three-quarters
to donate thousands of dol- of districts had unpaid stu-
lars to erase debts owed by dent meal debt at the end
parents that can follow kids of the last school year, an
throughout their school ca- increase from just under 71
reers. percent in 2014. The medi-
In Minnesota, an online an amount of debt per dis-
fundraising effort has paid trict was $2,000, but it can
almost $100,000 in lunch run much higher in large
debt in Minneapolis schools Students fill their lunch trays at J.F.K Elementary School in Kingston, N.Y., where all meals are now districts — up to $4.7 million,
and $28,000 in St. Paul’s. free under the federal Community Eligibility Provision. A donor inspired by a tweet raised money according to the associa-
Donors, mostly anonymous, to pay off lunch debt in districts around the country, as well as thousands of dollars in overdue tion.
erased $6,000 in debts in lunch fees at other schools in the Kingston district. It’s not the first time Ford’s
Topeka, Kansas, $2,000 (AP Photo/Mary Esch) tweets helped inspire an
in Bellevue, Washington, outpouring of public gen-
$1,200 in Wilmington, Dela- money and didn’t want “It’s amazing how one est families get free or re- erosity. In 2014, she was
ware, and $900 in Herminie, to be labeled as the poor tweet became this crazy duced-price breakfast and among the first to tweet
Pennsylvania. kid.” movement.” lunch. But some struggle to support for the public li-
“It really hit home for me,” Jill Draper, a yarn maker Draper said the effort drew pay even reduced prices, brary in Ferguson, Missouri,
said Kristina Arwood, of in the Hudson Valley town some criticism from people and some families who amid tensions over the po-
Evansville, Indiana, who of Kingston, New York, said who said some of the mon- would qualify for free or re- lice shooting of unarmed
launched a campaign that she was inspired by Ford’s ey is owed by parents who duced prices fail to fill out 18-year-old Michael Brown.
raised $20,000 to pay lunch tweet to collect money can afford the $2.50 for the necessary paperwork. That social media cam-
debts in her region. “I grew toward the $6,000 in debts lunch but let their accounts Some of the IOUs come paign brought in $450,000
up on free and reduced- owed by 600 students in her run into the red. “But the from kids who simply forget in donations. q

White privilege essay contest stirs passions in upscale town

MICHAEL MELIA 72, say the question is of- tion has discussed race Like other New York City episodes of racism. Dozens
Associated Press fensive because the town more openly. suburbs on the Connecti- of students at the public
WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — welcomes anybody who The chairman of the diver- cut shoreline, Westport Staples High School were
When the town sponsored can afford to live here. sity council, Harold Bailey ranks among the country’s disciplined for circulating
a student essay contest on “It’s an open town,” Reiner Jr., said that in addition to wealthiest places. Its me- racially offensive memes in
the topic of white privilege, said. “There are no barri- the chatter in town, people dian family income tops a private Facebook group
it was intended to provoke cades here. Nobody says if as far away as Singapore $150,000, and it is home to uncovered in November.
discussion in this wealthy, you’re black or whatever, have weighed in online. the world’s largest hedge The diversity council, TEAM
overwhelmingly white you can’t move here.” “There’s a lot more contro- fund, Bridgewater Associ- Westport, was created
community on Connecti- The contest , put on by the versy around it than many ates. As of the 2010 census, more than a decade ago
cut’s Gold Coast. town’s diversity council, of us expected,” said Bai- its 26,000 residents were to increase diversity and
It did, along with no small asks students to describe ley, a retired IBM vice presi- also 93 percent white. make the town more wel-
amount of outrage. the impact white privilege dent who is black. “Just The town has a liberal coming. The winner of the
Contest organizers have has had on their lives, using the fact it says ‘white’ and streak that some attribute annual contest’s $1,000 top
been surprised by the reac- a term that refers generally ‘privilege,’ for some people to its vibrant arts commu- prize will be announced
tion from some who say the to advantages conferred that’s all they need to see, nity, and it voted by more April 3.
question wrongly suggests automatically to whites, and all of a sudden we’re than 2 to 1 for Democrat The essay questions are de-
race plays into the good and not to minorities. The race-baiting or trying to get Hillary Clinton over Repub- veloped by a committee
life enjoyed in Westport. concept has moved into people to feel guilty. That’s lican Donald Trump. It also and approved by Staples
Residents like Bari Reiner, the mainstream as the na- not at all what it’s about.” has not been immune to faculty members.q