Thousands of donors have come together to keep the plain cheese sandwich out of St. Paul Public Schools lunchrooms.
A fundraising campaign inspired by Philando Castile has raised more than $84,000 in eight weeks to pay off school lunch debts.
When parents fall behind on payments, their kids get a cheese sandwich and milk in lieu of a full meal. But “Philando Feeds the Children,” which began as a Metropolitan State University class project, has raised enough to erase more than a year’s worth of district lunch debts.
Pam Fergus, the instructor leading the campaign, said she’s starting a nonprofit with hopes of growing beyond St. Paul, where Castile worked in school nutrition before a police officer shot and killed him during a traffic stop last year.
Fergus said the more than 2,300 donations have ranged from $1.50 to $1,000. Some give because they once were the poor kid in the school cafeteria, others because they’re upset with police or the justice system.
“It’s a good way of taking anger from a situation and doing something good with it,” she said.