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A GoFundMe launched by Kaitlynn Magie on Friday, Jan. 20 was originally intended to pay off the overdue lunch accounts at the Sandshore Elementary School, where students — through no fault of their own — had accumulated exactly $4,140 in meal debt, Daily Voice previously reported.
“I recently began to think about all of the children within our community whose only access to food daily is at school,” Magie wrote in the fundraiser, adding that the issue “causes stress and embarrassment for the children who are told they have no money in their accounts but are given food, with each meal tracked, because the school is obligated therefore putting a strain on our school to bare the brunt of the cost that families cannot cover.”
After hitting a number of holdups — including a BOE request to temporarily pause the fundraising efforts to determine outstanding balances — the campaign was reinstated and eventually reached its goal.
“We can do AMAZING things!” Magie wrote in a campaign update on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
“Thank you to all those who have donated, shared, or even just had a conversation about this fundraiser. Each and every single one of you was a catalyst to not only this fundraising effort being able to raise the total funds for this particular lunch account, but you were also the catalyst for the conversations that are happening within the school district, regarding our lunch accounts, their policies, and the companies that we employ in order to feed our children.”
But the holdups didn’t end there — after reaching out to the district once more, Magie was told that the board had taken a look at the lunch accounts for the entire district’s previous years and come up with a complete payoff total of $7,800.
“Now, this number is higher than I was originally told,” Magie wrote in a campaign update on Monday, Feb. 6. “HOWEVER, the good news is that this amount total IS FOR THE ENTIRE DISTRICT!”
In addition to Sandshore Elementary, the Mount Olive School District comprises Mt. Olive Middle and High Schools, as well as CMS Elementary, Mt. View Elementary, and Tinc Road School.
As of Tuesday, April 4, nearly $5,000 had been raised, leaving a balance of just over $2,800.
“While we reached our initial goal, our goal has increased now that it’s extended to the whole district,” Magie wrote in the most recent update on Monday, Feb. 20.
“Please continue to donate! Even just a dollar helps us get closer to our goal! If you can’t donate, please share! We generated a lot of conversations within the district and we can’t lose that momentum now!”
Click here to view/donate to ‘Mount Olive School Lunch Account Payoff’ on GoFundMe.
“Please share,” Magie writes. “Please continue to talk about ideas and district reform. THANK YOU, MOUNT OLIVE.”
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