FAYETTE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — School may be out for the summer, but a Lexington man is already focused on next year and paying off lunch debt across Fayette County Public Schools.
When LEX 18 first introduced you to Adam Dahl of Dahlhus Fudge in February, he had just decided to "fudge around and find out," as the sign in his shop says. He was raising money for school lunch debt using proceeds from his TikTok.
One month in, he had raised $1,300. Just two and a half months later, the total was ten times that amount at nearly $13,000. That's around one third of Fayette County's outstanding lunch debt LEX 18 reported in February.
"Once I started getting donations with a comma in it, I was like we need to make sure we're putting this in a nonprofit form so I'm not getting taxed on it, and mostly so 100% of it gets to the right people," Dahl said.
He partnered with the Bluegrass Community Foundation to start a nonprofit: the Dahlhus Fund.
Dahl is already encouraging donations ahead of next school year, as potential congressional budget cuts threaten free school lunches for millions of American kids.
"Anything helps, and anything we can do towards wiping out that debt and getting it to zero is fantastic, even if it was $15," said Dahl. "But we still have a long way to go, and next year will likely be a lot worse than this year, just makes me wanna push harder for it."
So just like his t-shirt now reads, Dahl fudged around and ended up feeding Lexington kids.
Dahl is participating in and organizing fundraising events, including a 3K in the fall. For more information, follow the Dahlhus Fudge Facebook page.
