Seminole County students still carrying $600,000 in lunch debt despite ‘largest donation … ever’ 

A $200,000 donation aimed at paying off lunch debt of nearly 5,000 Seminole County Public School students highlighted the tremendous scale of the problem in the process. 

Last week, Seminole County Public Schools received a substantial check from the Oviedo-based DUDA businesses and its family foundations to clear those lunch debts. Even still, there are another 10,000 students who owe an average of $60 in meal debt at Seminole County Public Schools. That equates to another $600,000 in meal debt – after the donation.

Tracy Duda Chapman, chief legal and administrative officer at DUDA, said in an interview with Oviedo Community News that at first the group’s original plan was to pay off the entire debt, but the number kept growing.  

“When we started this, we thought that we could actually pay off (all) the debt,” she said. “We kept reconnecting on what the total debt was [and] it just kept rising. And so I think from this, it’s a start.”

DUDA is working with All For Lunch, a nonprofit, to keep fundraising in the community to eliminate lunch debt in Seminole County. The donation comes as DUDA celebrates its 100th year as a business, now in its fifth generation of ownership.

“To me, it’s about shining a light on this significant need in our community, and seeing if other people in the business community and even just the community itself will get behind trying to address this need,” Chapman said. “Who would have thought? I mean, Seminole County, when you think about it,  is not a community that you would expect that it would be this significant.” 

Richard Miles, assistant director for Red Apple Dining at SCPS, said the district provides about 40,000 meals to students and staff at 65 locations every day. The dining services budget is around $40 million annually, and typically gets about $24 million in federal funding from the USDA for meals. 

Orange County Public Schools provides free lunch to all of its students through what’s called a Community Eligibility Provision with the USDA. Districts in the community eligibility program must have 25 percent of students on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (the program historically called food stamps). 

In Seminole County, just under 50% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. That means the majority are able to pay. 

“That discussion has been had many times,” Miles said. “We still have a significant need, obviously, that leaves us with thousands of students that need support. For the … students that still need support, we want to make sure we have the resources and means. And that takes community effort and partnerships.”

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Miles said another key takeaway: SCPS will feed schoolchildren whether they can pay for it or not. 

“We will not deny a child a meal, breakfast or lunch anytime they come to the dining room on any school day. So regardless of whether they have money or not, regardless of whether they qualify, we will make sure that that child has a nutritious meal.”

Duda said the company’s mission is to “multiply and share God’s blessings.” An attendee at the event where the check was presented told her something that validated that mission, she said, someone who had adopted three children enrolled in Seminole County schools.

“And she goes, I got my letter that my school debt had been paid off,” Chapman said. “It was very difficult not to get emotional about that, because you could see tangibly how impactful it was to her to have that relief and worry off of her. I jumped on our QR code as soon as I was leaving the event and made (another) donation.”

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member.