Boardman school official grateful for “lunch angel”
BOARDMAN
One Boardman schools graduate knows what it’s like to not always know where your lunch will come from.
Now, the woman is helping take some stress off students and families who are experiencing the same challenge.
Boardman Local Schools food service director Natalie Winkle recently received a call from the woman, now of the Seattle area, who wishes to remain anonymous. She told Winkle about some circumstances in her own life that made her want to do something good for others.
So, she has promised to pay off the lunch accounts of all Boardman students whose fund balance is negative. The donation amounts to nearly $1,300 and will impact approximately 120 students across all of the district’s schools, Winkle said.
“I was blown away by her generosity,” Winkle said.
Winkle said the woman shared that when she was a Boardman student, she sometimes did not have enough money in her lunch account. She also shared a little bit about her family, saying her husband is now a surgeon after immigrating to the United States with just a few hundred dollars. She told Winkle she recently had a baby and “just felt she needed to do something good,” Winkle said.
Winkle explained that Boardman allows students to charge up to three meals after their accounts are empty. After that, the district provides an “alternate” lunch, a policy prompted by instances when some students’ accounts racked up significant debts, Winkle said.
Winkle hopes the woman’s generous act will inspire others to pay it forward.
“Maybe we can start a whole chain reaction,” she said. “Wouldn’t that be a wonderful way to start the new year?”
“I just truly feel that she has blessed the Boardman students by doing this gift,” she added. “We’re grateful to her for being our little lunch angel.”