Church Pays Off School Lunch Debt In Virginia Counties: Report

STAFFORD COUNTY, VA — Mount Ararat Church completely paid off the school lunch debt of families with children in Spotsylvania County's public schools and made a significant contribution to the lunch debt at schools in Stafford County. Using contributions from its members, the church gave $8,000 to Spotsylvania schools so parents of children would be debt free. The church was able to contribute $10,400 toward the lunch debt in Stafford County.

Mount Ararat Church, located on Garrisonville Road in Stafford, paid off the negative student lunch balances for four Stafford elementary schools: Park Ridge, Kate Waller Barrett, Anne E. Moncure and Winding Creek. Earlier this holiday season, the church paid off school lunch debts for students of all ages in Spotsylvania County Public Schools.

"Can you imagine these hundreds of families that are about to get a call to say: 'Hey listen we know you owe maybe a few hundred dollars or so for your lunchroom school debt, but guess what, that debt has been abolished, it's been forgiven. You don't owe that debt anymore,'" Pastor Jerry Williams of Mount Ararat Church in Stafford County said in a video posted to Facebook.

Based on the generous giving of its members, the church is able to give away more than $500,000 a year to help people in the community and around the world, Williams said in the video.

A Spotsylvania County Public Schools spokesperson told ABC7 that the negative balance on school lunch debts typically grows during the school year but can change due to enrollment in free and reduced-price lunch programs from the federal government. About 39 percent of students in Spotsylvania County are enrolled in such programs. Some students might have a negative balance at the moment but could receive credits to their accounts once their paperwork for the federal programs is filled out and submitted, ABC7 reported.

Williams told ABC7 that these contributions are the first time Mount Ararat Church has helped students in this way, although the church has assisted the community in other ways, including hosting charity events for local law enforcement and the special needs community.

In Prince William County, a nonprofit organiztion called Settle the Debt has received several large gifts from donors to resolve lunch debt at several schools in the county totaling about $18,000. So far for 2019, the student lunch debt in Prince William County is reportedly $221,000. According to FOX 5, Settle the Debt is slated to pay off the student lunch debt at 20 schools in Prince William County by Dec. 18.

Adele Settle of Gainesville founded Settle the Debt two years ago, with the goal of ending "lunch shaming," a term used when schools identify or offer an alternative lunch or no lunch at all to students who have an outstanding lunch bill.