No more cheese sandwiches? Donation wipes out lunch debt at Decatur schools

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Thanks to a grant from the Arby’s Foundation, all student lunch debt at City Schools of Decatur has been eliminated, the district said.

The news comes after the district previously announced that starting Feb. 2, schools would give students with at least three charged meals a cheese sandwich and milk instead of the regular lunch, citing financial sustainability. The schools reported a districtwide lunch debt balance of $88,000.

The district did not mention the cheese sandwiches in its grant announcement but did say it has partnered with organizations “to provide additional assistance to individual families experiencing financial hardships.” They went on to say that they are “grateful for the overwhelming support.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Decatur schools to give cheese sandwiches to students with excessive meal charges

“As a public school district, we often have to make difficult decisions. However, we remain committed to providing healthy meal options for all students while working diligently to proactively prevent future debt reoccurrence,” the district said.

The Arby’s Foundation said it covered the full debt of $88,000, impacting 765 Decatur students.

“We saw this happening in our own backyard, and we said not only can we do this, we already set up the fund to do this,” said Arby’s Foundation Executive Director, Stuart Brown.

It also gave thousands more to three other metro Atlanta school districts to clear school lunch debt, including:

• $73,273 to the Cobb County School District, impacting 1,295 students
• $35,000 to the Henry County School District, impacting 4,276 students
• $7,261 to the Fulton County School District, impacting 1,077 students

RELATED: Arby’s Foundation pays off student lunch debt for 4 metro Atlanta school districts

“We saw this and said we can help out,” said Brown.

The donations are part of a $1 million nationwide effort to pay off school lunch debt at more than 750 schools, the company said. Inspire Brands, Arby’s parent company, is headquartered in Sandy Springs.

Jasmine Crowe-Houston, founder and CEO of an Atlanta-based food sustainability company called Goodr, started an online fundraiser to pay the debt after hearing about the new cheese sandwich policy. In just two days, the initiative raised more than $85,000.

But Crowe-Houston said the donations have not been given to the school district. Instead, she’s reached out to GoFundMe to issue refunds after the corporation covered the debt, she said in a statement.

Crowe-Houston said she still offered the money, but the district said the funds should go toward another cause.

GoFundMe has confirmed all donors have been refunded.

The school district has a poverty rate of less than 10%, it said in the announcement about the grant.

“While the initial issue that prompted this campaign has been successfully resolved, the insights gained from this experience will continue to inspire both me and the Goodr team to actively work on preventing such situations in the future,” Crowe-Houston said. “I can’t thank everyone enough for elevating this issue.”

Several metro Atlanta public school districts said they have alternative lunches when students overdraft. Schools in DeKalb County serve a grilled cheese sandwich, while a Gwinnett County Schools spokesperson confirmed a different meal but did not go into detail.

For the past few years, all public school students have been getting free meals due to COVID-19 funds. But those funds were discontinued this school year, allowing debts to rack up.

Atlanta News First has reached out to the school district to learn more about the grant. Check back as this story updates.