Group looks to ease debts on Columbia County lunch accounts

EVANS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Columbia County School District is one of the only counties in the CSRA not offering free-for-all lunch programs.

One group is trying to step up and pay off student’s debts.

The group says it starts with awareness of the problem.

The Golden Harvest Food Bank says one in every 20 kids in Columbia County experiences food insecurity.

“Everybody’s struggling. It’s tough on everybody, and the kids have to be taken care of and if we can do that as a community that’s a win, positivity where there is enough negative in the world, we can be positive,” said Alan Barry, who started the awareness campaign.

Barry says he sees the struggle as a grandparent. He’s looking to raise awareness to help get student’s lunch money.

Right now, he says from his calculations the overall lunch money debt is more than $10k in the county, which is the amount he wants to see raised throughout the county.

Another part of his campaign is awareness and understanding of what happens when a student’s account has more than $14.25 of debt.

“They call it the sandwich of shame,” he said.

It’s a policy where a student can only get a grilled cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the school or pack a bag from home.

Barry doesn’t want those to give him money, instead, he wants people to know this is a big way to step in and help the community by eliminating lunch debts.

“I realize that the economy is strained right now. I also realized, as I’m a churchgoer, that a lot of people in their 20s and 30s are beginning to have 2, 3, 4 kids. That’s an expensive thing and then you take the economy on top of that, gas prices, everything coupled into that. This is a difficult time for a person that’s out there. Both parents trying to work and survive and I just hate to see the kids be a victim to that when we have the resources to take care of those kids,” he said.

Another way for parents to cut costs is to apply for the free or reduced lunch programs. The applications are open all year long.

If you need to pay on your student’s account, visit the EZSchoolPay website.