Last week a news story surfaced about a Florida teen having her lunch thrown in the trash by a school cafeteria worker because she was 15 cents short. The news enraged many, including T.I. and a civil rights lawyer, who are both now fully involved.
In a recent Instagram post, Tip blasted not only the cafeteria worker but the school district for allowing the incident to happen on its watch.
“This sh-t is despicable,” he wrote. “This is the kind of sh-t that deters kids from coming to school. I’d like to take care of her school lunch for the year. I hate to hear this type of thing happening to our children. Petty ass, peon ass, poor excuse for a grow person.”
Tip left his comments under a message from Kristen Clarke, who posted about the University High School student on Instagram.
Clarke is the head of the Lawyers’ Committee, which is a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. and to help the teen, she’s created a GoFundMe page for a goal of $10,000. This was after the student’s mother Kimberly Aiken spoke to a local news outlet about the incident.
“She puts her food on the tray, gets to the front, gives her number to the cashier, and she says ‘Well, you owe 15 cents,'” Aiken explained. “My daughter said she didn’t have any money, so the cashier took her food.”
Aiken’s daughter then went the rest of the school day without having anything to eat.
“That’s the big thing,” she said. “It’s eat breakfast, lunch, so that they can make sure that they’re doing good on their work. But then you starve my child?”
Besides creating the GoFundMe page, Clarke wrote a letter to the Volusia County Schools’ Superintendent James Russell and requested a meeting to ensure other students aren’t encountering the same thing.
“Schools should not shame children who are unable to afford meals” she wrote. “Denying students meals because of financial need perpetuates food insecurity, increases hunger and negatively impacts their productivity and learning environment.”
“With over 63,000 students and 85 schools, Volusia County School District has an obligation to ensure that its students, regardless of financial status, have equal access to a sound education, including access to meals during the school day,” added Clarke.
After T.I. said he’d pay for the teen’s lunch, many sang his praises and thanked him.
“You are amazing. God bless you,” one person wrote. “Honorable,” wrote another.
Plus, other folks told similar stories about their children not eating at school because they didn’t have the money.
“This happened to my child,” someone wrote. “She got her lunch on the tray, went to the register, typed in her ID number and they told her that her meal application expired and took her food from her and sent her out. Didn’t call me or anything. Made her go all day with no food. @troubleman31sad world we live in, and this was in 7th grade.”
“I had my son’s school call and tell me they were gonna sit him in the office for lunch unless someone brought him lunch money,” wrote someone else. “And all they had to give him was saltine crackers in the office … And I couldn’t get there before lunch, because I work too far away. I was pissed. Just shows what kind of world we live in. They feel more sorry for a stray dog than a actual human being, better yet a child.”
