Philando Castile, 32, was fatally shot July 6 in Saint Paul’s Falcon Heights neighborhood. Facebook.
Philando Castile’s memory continues to live on as his charity wipes out lunch debt for children in the Minnesota school district where he worked.
Castile, who was fatally shot July 2016 by an officer during a traffic stop, worked as a school nutrition supervisor that would literally pay for kids who weren’t able to afford school lunch. He was known as “Mr. Phil” to the students at J.J. Hill Montessori School in St. Paul, Minnesota. He oversaw food programs and made it his mission to engage with the students, even knowing their names and diets according to YouCaring’s fundraiser page “Philando Feeds the Children.”
The charity that exists in honor of his name is aiding thousands of students by eliminating lunch debt for all 56 schools in Minnesota’s St. Paul Public Schools district in Minnesota.
“That means that no parent of the 37,000 kids who eat meals at school need worry about how to pay that overdue debt,” according to the fundraising page. “Philando is still reaching into his pocket, and helping a kid out. One by one. With your help.”
The director of Nutrition Services at Saint Paul Public Schools, Stacey Koppen, told NBC News she remembers Castile being a “kind and caring” person. “This fundraiser honoring him and his memory couldn’t be more perfect… This is what he did. He did so without question or praise”, she admits.
The organization is ran by Pam Fergus an educator at Metropolitan State University and her students. They reportedly donated a check for about $35,000 at the school district’s office.
