Alamance County nonprofits raise $24,000 to eliminate student lunch debt

SAFE Alamance, United Way of Alamance County and All for Lunch mobilized a joint campaign that raised $24,000 to eliminate student lunch debt in the Alamance-Burlington school system, covering a district tally recorded as $24,069 and affecting 544 students as of Monday. Angela Mullen, social worker at Western Alamance Middle and High School, said the move will ease pressure on families: “From the family’s perspective, I think it will reduce tensions from the school calling and trying to collect debt … With the students here, when you’re fed, you are ready to learn.”

The largest campus balances reported in the district were concentrated at Southeast Alamance High School and Western Alamance Middle and Western Alamance High School, prompting SAFE Alamance executive director Tiffanie Jackson and partners to push both one-time fundraising and longer-term supports. Jackson said the group is working to prevent repeat gaps: “We are trying to approach the root issues, which means education on how to apply for those programs.” Jackson also noted SAFE Alamance’s summer program that sends students home with food and stressed the rural challenges in the county that increase vulnerability, including food deserts and limited transportation.

The community response included a parent-led effort at South Mebane Elementary. A parent identified only by the last name McKenna launched a GoFundMe with a $3,000 target to cover a school-disclosed balance and allow students to attend a Valentine’s Day dance. McKenna reached the $3,000 goal, said the parent does not yet know whether that total covers all current South Mebane debt, and left the fundraiser open pending school confirmation; any excess donations will be redirected to other schools’ lunch accounts.

The district-side accounting contains a higher figure. An ABSS official identified as Atkins said the Alamance-Burlington School System’s unpaid school-lunch debt “this year” is $59,000 and that some families have accumulated as much as $300 individually. Atkins emphasized that ABSS’s food service operates as a self-sufficient program and that schools continue to feed students while notifying families about the federal free and reduced-price meal application. Atkins added, “We’ve done the same thing in the past, I’m not exactly sure why this made news this particular time,” and “But at the end of the day, all of the debts must be cleared by next school year,” noting USDA rules limit carrying debt into a subsequent school year.

The divergent figures—a $24,069 district tally associated with the nonprofit campaign and a $59,000 total cited by ABSS—remain unresolved in public accounts and may reflect different snapshots, accounting definitions, or scopes of charges. SAFE Alamance, United Way, All for Lunch, ABSS food services and school administrators will need to reconcile dates, school-by-school breakdowns and which categories of charges each total includes to determine whether the $24,000 covers the district balances ABSS counts as outstanding.

Clearing immediate arrears relieved collection calls and removed a barrier to participation in school events, while nonprofit leaders and school staff continue outreach to help families complete federal free and reduced-price meal applications and to expand summer food supports. The known tallies for this episode are $24,000 raised by the nonprofits; a Monday balance of $24,069 affecting 544 students; and ABSS’s statement of $59,000 in unpaid lunch charges “this year,” with some households owing up to $300.