#34 - Helping with Lunches

My 34th act of kindness is one close to my heart.  A couple of weeks ago I asked the sweet girl I mentor if she had enough money in her lunch account.  She said she had $5 and that was plenty.  I told her $5 didn't seem like much, and she said it was better than not having $5.  First, she's a smart girl.  Second, that perspective was important for me.  I came back to the office and that thought stuck with me.  I decided that it would be awesome to pay off overdue lunch accounts for students at some of our low-income elementary schools.  For families who know that having $5 is a good day, breaking even on a lunch account before Christmas can make a big difference. 

Once I found out what it was going to cost to cover one campus I decided to recruit friends to the effort.  It started with donations from caring colleagues and turned into selling candy-grams to get some more money.  At the end of the adventure we'd collected just over $900 and was able to pay off all accounts for 4 campuses.  Today I had the absolute delight of delivering those checks with a friend.  We asked that they let the families know that a group of anonymous donors wanted to help them and wish them a happy holiday.  If that money helps even one of those families, we've done a good thing.  If one kid can come to school in January and not have to worry about whether they are behind on their lunch balance, well...  I'll just say it's worth it. 

P.S.  Ellie the Elf helped with the check delivery!