For many years now, school lunches have been a serious problem in schools with many children not able to afford them and just going hungry all day. Many of these kids would be given cold lunches while their classmates enjoyed hot meals leading to incredible humiliation.
There have also been many people from all walks of life that have paid off school lunch debts for an entire class. Ryan Kyote is a 9-year-old student in Napa, California who heard about this school lunch debt and took it upon himself to pay off the debt for his class.
His story went viral on social media and caught the attention of people who needed to address this terrible problem that was leaving millions of children hungry.
Ryan’s Story:
Even though Ryan was only 9, he was very aware of the school lunch debt. If he found out one of his classmates could not pay for their lunch, he would offer the cafeteria workers his lunch card to pay for his friend’s lunch.
At one point, he realized the problem was even bigger than he thought. He heard a news story about a 5-year-old child in Indiana who was not allowed a school lunch because they could not pay for it.
Not only did Ryan find this story unbelievable, but he couldn’t understand how someone could be deprived of food, let alone a 5-year-old child. This story motivated him to start paying more attention to kids in his class who could not afford school lunches.
He was very upset that something like this could happen in the United States. His mom, realizing how upset he was, so she contacted the school district to find out what the policy was regarding the lunch debt.
She was quite relieved to find out that the district that covers Ryan’s school, never turns a child away from a hot meal because they just can’t afford it. Unfortunately, parents of children who cannot afford to pay for their children’s lunch are stuck with a really large bill at the end of the school year.
Although Ryan was glad to hear none of his classmates would go without lunch, he did not want their families to be stuck with a huge bill. He decided to do whatever he could to help his classmates.
He was the kind of kid who always saved his allowances and had accumulated a good amount of money over the past 6 months He just hoped this would be enough money to cover the lunch debts for his classmates. His mother looked into it and discovered her son’s savings would cover $74.50 in lunch debts that his friends could not pay.
He eagerly volunteered to use the money that he was saving up for sports equipment to help out his fellow classmates.
Ryan’s Story Hits Social Media:
His mom was so incredibly proud of her son, she posted the story, along with photos, on social media. This was a mixed bag because even though many people were really proud of Ryan, others were outraged that he even had to give up his money to help other children out.
People all across the country realized how terrible the school lunch debt was. They realized how outrageous it was that a school system could be so out of touch that countless children were starving every day just because their parents couldn’t afford it.
How could any school system deprive young children of a decent school lunch? Even more unbelievable, school lunches are the only meal millions of children will have in the course of a day across the country.
Ryan’s selfless actions have opened up the eyes of millions of people and showed that we all have a responsibility to help out others, no matter how big or small the situation might be. Making a difference in a child’s life cannot be weighed in the money offered to feed them. It’s the right thing to do!
For many years now, school lunches have been a serious problem in schools with many children not able to afford them and just going hungry all day. Many of these kids would be given cold lunches while their classmates enjoyed hot meals leading to...
