The Iredell-Statesville Schools district estimates it will end the school year with $30,000 in school lunch debt.

That is thousands of dollars in meals the students were fed during school but couldn’t or didn’t pay for them.

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Channel 9′s Almiya White found out that parents and students are coming together to do something about the debt.

“(In a) a normal year, we have about $10,000 in school lunch debt,” said Tina Wilson, the director of child nutrition for ISS.

Wilson said $30,000 is the largest lunch debt the district has encountered.

“More families need help with feeding their children,” Wilson said.

The district said students pay $1.50 for breakfast and $3 for lunch.

While many students qualify for free and reduced lunch, some families never even apply for it. They also can’t or don’t cover the cost of those meals, which means kids are being fed but schools aren’t always being paid.

“Normally at the end of the school year, our schools’ principals are in charge of paying their debt out,” Wilson said.

Mothers Jean Foster and Emily Kiral started a fundraiser over winter break to erase the student lunch debt.

“There is no education without the hot meal,” said Foster. “If you’re not eating, if you’re hungry, I mean that’s as basic as you can get. And we have kids that need the food.”

They hope to pay off the debt in June.

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