A Gwinnett County megachurch is donating more than $62,000 to pay off school lunch debt in three metro school systems where it has campuses.
12Stone Church made the announcement to it members as part of a larger effort called Knock Out Hunger.
Nearly $45,000 will go to Gwinnett schools, $11,000 to Hall County schools and $6,000 to Barrow County schools to pay off the debt of those students who are awaiting approval of their free and reduced lunch applications.
“During that window of time, they incur student meal debt. And we’re paying that off,” says Chief Financial Officer Norwood Davis.
While Gwinnett schools couldn’t quantify the number of students it will help, the total amount of school lunch debt in the county is around $100,000.
“We’re going after tackling food-insecurity here in Gwinnett County and the greater metro area. One in six kids are described as food-insecure sometime throughout the year where they don’t know where their next meal will come from,” says Davis.
He says it’s only the beginning of a long-term effort to help families in need.
For the month of December, church members are being asked to provide a days-worth of food for a family of four in a box that’s provided to them. So far, it has collected 2,000 boxes that will be distributed to six local co-ops around Gwinnett County.
“The better life that God promises us is when we give more than we take. And we think that’s true not just on food, but it’s true in all relationships,” he says.