Arby’s Foundation pays off student lunch debt for 4 metro Atlanta school districts

By Hope Dean

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    ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — The Arby’s Foundation has donated more than $200,000 to eliminate student lunch debt in four metro Atlanta school districts, it announced.

“Kids are not designed for uncertainty. Kids need to know they can expect when their next meal is going to be,” Stuart Brown, executive director of the Inspire Brands Foundation, said.

The payments are part of the charitable organization’s $1 million effort to wipe out lunch debt at more than 750 schools nationwide. The national public school meal debt is $262 million a year, with 30.4 million students who can’t afford food at school, according to the Education Data Initiative.

The Arby’s Foundation donated to the following districts:

$88,000 to City Schools of Decatur, impacting 765 students $73,273 to the Cobb County School District, impacting 1,295 students $35,000 to the Henry County School District, impacting 4,276 students $7,261 to the Fulton County School District, impacting 1,077 students “Childhood hunger is something that no one should ever have to face, and school lunch should be a time that kids look forward to without worrying if they’ll have a meal that day,” said Brown. “We’re honored to have partnered with so many local school districts to help those students enjoy lunchtime with their classmates, and ease the burden on parents.”

Arby’s is owned by Inspire Brands, which is headquartered in Sandy Springs.

In a statement, the Henry County School District said it is grateful for the gift, “which supports healthy and nutritious school lunches so that kids can learn.”

A spokesperson for Fulton County Schools sent a statement saying, “Fulton County Schools is very grateful for Arby’s generous offer to pay towards student lunch debt. FCS values all of our partners, USDA, the state of Georgia and families who help to ensure our students have healthy breakfast and lunch options available.”

“We are delighted to confirm the $88k lunch debt has been eliminated thanks to the generosity of a corporate foundation grant,” said a spokesperson with City Schools of Decatur. “All past balances have been forgiven. CSD has less than a 10 percent poverty rate, and eligible families continue to receive regular meals through the National Lunch Program. We have also finalized agreements with organizations to provide additional assistance to individual families experiencing financial hardships. As a public school district, we often have to make difficult decisions. However, we remain committed to providing healthy meal options for all students while working diligently to proactively prevent future debt reoccurrences.”

The announcement comes after City of Decatur Schools faced criticism for its new school lunch policy. Starting Feb. 2, the district planned to give a cheese sandwich and milk instead of a regular lunch to students with more than three charged lunches.

Opponents like Jasmine Crowe-Houston, founder and CEO of an Atlanta-based food sustainability company called Goodr, argued the decision would cause food shaming and bullying.

“You are singling out this child or multiple children and saying, ‘Hey, today I’m eating chicken, and you’re eating another cheese sandwich, your parents must not have money to pay for your food.’” said Crowe-Houston.

Crowe-Houston started an online fundraiser to pay the school lunch debt, raising more than $85,000 in two days. But she said the school district turned her donation away after Arby’s paid off the debt. Now, Crowe-Houston is collaborating with GoFundMe to return the money to more than 1,000 donors.

“While the initial issue that prompted this campaign has been successfully resolved, the insights gained from this experience will continue to inspire both me and the Goodr team to actively work on preventing such situations in the future,” Crowe-Houston said in a statement. “I can’t thank everyone enough for elevating this issue.”

The school district has not commented on whether the cheese sandwich policy has been canceled in light of the donation.

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