John Legend Helped Pay Seattle School District's Lunch Debt

SEATTLE, WA - At the beginning of May, Jeffrey Lew, a Beacon Hill resident and parent of a student in Seattle Public Schools, set goal to eliminate the $21,000 in student school lunch debt in the district. He broke that fundraising goal through a GoFundMe fundraiser in just five days, and he did it with the help of musician John Legend. The John Legend contribution was first reported by the Seattle Times on Sunday - and it was confirmed on Twitter by Legend himself. The Times reported that Legend contributed $5,000 to Lew's campaign.

Lew was actually able to raise more than$21,000, and has set a new goal of $40,000 to pay off the school lunch debt in the Tacoma and Renton districts.

>>>Visit Jeffrey Lew's fundraiser to eliminate school lunch debt

What is school lunch debt? It's when a student owes money to the school cafeteria. In some instances, lunch debt can lead to "lunch shaming," where a school will serve a student lower-quality meals - or nothing at all - until the debt is paid. New Mexico recently passed a law against lunch shaming, which bans schools that receive federal funding from singling out kids who have lunch debt. The law deems that schools work with parents directly on debt payment.

"I always feel that no child should ever go hungry due to not having money," Lew told Q13. "Because, you know, they're children. They can't work so they don't even know what the concept of money is."

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