Car Dealership Pays Off $25K In PG County School Lunch Debt

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A local car dealership is bringing some holiday cheer to Prince George's County students and their families. On Tuesday, DARCARS Toyota announced it is paying off the school lunch debt for every student in the PG County public school system.

DARCARS Chief Operating Officer Jamie Darvish presented a $25,000 check to the Excellence in Education Foundation for PGCPS at William Hall Academy in Capitol Heights, WTOP reports. Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson said at the event the donation is enough to provide meals to 10,000 students.

Darvish said the company was glad to do their part for the community.

“I really look and I see it’s not easy to be a kid today,” he said. “The last thing in the world that a child needs to worry about is eating. And being hungry makes accomplishing tasks of overcoming those challenges and burdens in society that much harder. So I’m honored and I’m glad that we could step up and do this.”

Last school year, the debt that Maryland school districts incurred for providing meals that students could not afford ranged from $3,000 to almost $100,000. Goldson said PG County Schools were hit with accruing student lunch debt during recent government shutdowns.