Anonymous Mom: I Challenge You All To Become ‘Lunch Angels’

Sometimes I get the most amazing Anonymous Mom submissions that aren’t a true confession or a deep dark secret. Sometimes they are just amazingly awesome ideas the writer wants to share with the Mommyish community, and such is the case with the following. You may remember how Maria wrote about this awful school In Utah and how they disposed of the lunches of kids that had overdue lunch accounts. 

Our reader saw a recent article on Today.com about a man who decided to forgo buying something for himself to pay off some kid’s overdue accounts so they wouldn’t go hungry, and she was inspired to do the same. After reading about this, I hope you will be as inspired as I am, and as our Anonymous Mom is. I love this whole movement so much. 

As a tutor and mentor at Valley Oaks Elementary School in Houston for over 10 years, Kenny Thompson has taken pride in helping out kids. So on Monday, when he found out that over 60 students at his school were eating cold sandwiches for lunch because of overdue funds on their accounts, he decided to pay off the negative balance. All $465 of it.

Amazing, right? And all I could think was “Wow.” So simple. So basic. So brilliant. So now what? Because I’d like to do the same thing. Except I don’t have an extra $500 laying around. But I do have $50. Or $20. Or $10. Because I was going to buy organic fruit snacks, until this guy made me remember that the kid sitting next to my kid has no fruit at lunch so minus five bucks. I was going to buy a mocha frappe whatever because it’s Friday and I earned it, until this guy reminded me that the kid at the bus stop didn’t have milk at lunch so minus five bucks. I was going to buy handmade artisan sourdough bread, until this guy made me realize that the kid standing outside the school library is getting handed a cold sandwich and a side of shame because the payment on his lunch account is past due and another minus five bucks.

So there it is. 15 dollars without really trying that hard. And today, when I pick up my kid from school, I’ll go a little earlier. And I’ll stop in the office and pay that money into some kid’s account. I don’t care which kid. I don’t care why his account is past due. It doesn’t matter why his parent or guardian didn’t pay it. I don’t care who they are or what their story is. I care that a child at my kid’s school, a child of my community, is hungry. She is hungry and I can fix it, without really trying that hard.

I challenge you to do the same. To not try that hard. But to do something. To figure out what you can give. And then try a little harder, and give a little more. And today, when you pick up your kid from school, go a little earlier and pay that money into some kid’s account. You don’t have to pay for everyone. I don’t have to pay for everyone. But if we each help someone, then we can fix it for everyone. Because kids shouldn’t go hungry.

(Image: getty images)