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Anderson Co. family pays off school lunch debt

Posted at 7:26 PM, Dec 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-22 19:26:35-05

ANDERSON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — In this season of giving, an Anderson County family wanted to take a little pressure off of some local families.

Terri Carter remembers when she was in school, sometimes just walking down the hallway was a reminder of what she didn't have. Some days her mom didn't have lunch money, so Carter said she faked it.

"You open that door and the first thing you smell are people cooking and just to have to smell that all day long and to sit with your friends at lunch and say, 'Oh
I'm not hungry. No thanks'," Carter recalled.

This year she and her husband wanted to give back to the community and she thought about the students in the Anderson County School district.
She called the district, she said, and asked about the school lunch debt. She was told that students weren't going hungry but there was about $2,700 in debt throughout the district.

Carter and her husband wrote a check.

"I just imagine what it would have been like for my own mother to get that phone call to say like you have $75 that now is clear and your kid can eat hot lunch again," she said. "...She would have been so relieved."

And she's heard back from some of the people her donation directly impacted, she said.

"One of the best things that's happened is my mailbox is full," she said.

She described one message she received.

"She said my mother is single, has two more kids in school. She said when she called her mother and told her this was happening her mother cried because she didn't know how she was going to have the money to pay," Carter said.

Anderson County Schools sent LEX 18 a statement about the donation:
"We are very appreciative of the donation Mr. and Mrs. Carter made to our FRYSC meals donation account. This donation went toward meal debt for Anderson County students in need. We are humbled at their thoughtfulness, kindness and generosity, during this season of giving, to help Anderson County students. "