A “Christmas Good Samaritan” has come to the aid of dozens of students in the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District by donating more than $2000 to pay for outstanding lunch balances at Manning Elementary and Belmont Elementary.
The donor asked to remain anonymous.
“Parents sometimes find themselves short at the end of the month and don’t have the money to pay for their child’s lunch which in turn results in mounting unpaid balances. I know this donation is a welcome relief to many of our parents right here at the holidays,” said Michelle Puckett, Child Nutrition Director.
The RRGSD Board of Trustees instructed School Nutrition staff several years ago to provide students with a hot lunch regardless of accumulated balances.
“This enables our students to be able to focus on the instruction in the classroom,” said Dain Butler, Superintendent.
Throughout the year school administrators and Community Outreach Liaisons (COLs) work with our School Nutrition staff to identify students that have growing balances. Our school teams work with those parents to pay down lunch room debt and identify community services the family may need.
Additionally, Free/Reduced Lunch applications are sent out at the beginning of each school year to all students in RRGSD. All completed applications returned are submitted.
“Acts like this should remind us there is still a lot of good in this city if we just focus on it. Anything to lighten the burden on the parents of students, especially this time of year is such a blessing,” said Justin Fender, Belmont PTA President.