Anonymous group pays off lunch debt for Lebanon County students

• Rachel McDevitt/StateImpact Pennsylvania
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  I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.
  
  My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.
  
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 Rogelio V. Solis / AP Photo

Students at Madison Crossing Elementary School in Canton, Miss., eat lunch in the school's cafeteria on Friday, Aug. 9, 2019.

(Harrisburg) — Students in a Lebanon County school district are now debt-free in their lunch accounts, thanks to a recent donation.

Palmyra Area School District Superintendent Bernie Kepler said he was “pleased and humbled” by the donation from a community group that wants to stay anonymous.

He said the group paid the bill of just under $1,800 at the beginning of the month.

“From an educational standpoint, we know that when our young people don’t come to us with basic needs met– having a good breakfast, or something healthy, or a good lunch–learning is not going to be achieved at the same level,” Kepler said.

That amount of school lunch debt for the district of around 3,600 students is relatively low, but Kepler said there is an ongoing need. The share of students getting free or reduced-price lunch is nearing 25 percent.

He added lunch debt is a persistent problem nationwide.

A survey last year from the nonprofit School Nutrition Association found 75 percent of districts that responded had outstanding student meal debt at the end of the 2017-18 school year.

It also found the amount of debt had increased by 70 percent over a five-year period.

The Palmyra district’s two social workers help students and families who qualify apply for free and reduced-price school meal programs.

“As educators, we typically are not clearly aware of how to access services in the community,” Kepler said. “But social workers specialize in working with families and gaining access to services, and I’ve seen the true benefits of that here in Palmyra.”

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