CASPER, Wyo. — Of the 12,700 students in the Natrona County School District, 1,725 are in “food debt,” according to a man who is doing something about it.
“We’re going to wipe out all the food debt from all the students in Natrona County,” Frank Grillo said Thursday.
His H.E.R.O. Outdoors organization, which does fundraising for local nonprofits, is coordinating a community-wide effort for those students.
While their fellow students can pay for and eat regular meals, those on the food debt list are given a cheese or peanut butter (no jelly) sandwich, a carton of milk and maybe a piece of fruit, Grillo said on Thursday, citing information from NCSD’s food services department.
After their inability to pay for their school lunches exceeds $15, the students are put on the list, Grillo said. He recently learned about food debt with students at Natrona County High School and expanded his project to include students in all district schools.
Over time, that adds up because food debt isn’t expunged at the end of the school year.
The food debt of $27,640.37 from last year follows each student and was carried over to the current fiscal year.
The food debt is currently $33,299.62, Grillo said.
NCSD, with a fiscal year 2023–24 budget of $394 million, does not cover student food debt. The district did not respond to questions about the statistics or Grillo’s program.
Thursday, Grillo and others involved with the “Full Plates Full Hearts: Feeding Natrona County’s Future” group met with the Casper branch of the Wyoming Women’s Network to talk about the problem and the solution of a raffle for prizes.
He joined Brandy Teague with the Wyoming Food for Thought Project, Katie Schultz with AMBI Mail and Marketing and Tosca Ball of the Prairie Peddler. Jane Peterson of Cowboy State Custom Meats was not able to attend.
AMBI has designed the project’s logo and printed the tickets for the raffle to raise money to wipe out the food debt, he said.
Grillo told the Wyoming Women’s Network that Full Plates Full Hearts is only interested in dealing with the students’ food debt and will not be involved with district politics or policies about the problem.
The fundraising has started now.
People can buy the $20 tickets at local businesses for the donated raffle prizes. The drawing for the winners will take place Aug. 17, and all proceeds will go toward the students’ food debts.
To learn more about the raffle, prizes, sponsors and participating businesses, visit the H.E.R.O. Facebook page.