There’s more to the story than change lost between the couch cushions — families aren’t forgetting $2.8 million in lunch debt. People seemed to find the concrete nature of it satisfying — this specific school, these specific kids, this specific problem solved. DJ Bracken lives with his 7-year-old daughter Liara and splits his time between coaching basketball and fighting school lunch debt. After personally paying off $835 at a local elementary school, DJ founded the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation, which has raised over $50,000 and paid off the lunch debt of 12 Utah schools. His advocacy helped pass HB100, legislation that changed “reduced-price” lunch kids into “free” lunch kids and prohibited lunch shaming in Utah schools.

Source: Huffington Post May 03, 2025 13:03 UTC