Mother makes GoFundMe page to raise money for overdue lunch fees

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — We previously told you about a Wilmington middle school who threatened to prevent students from participating in their Field Day if they were behind on paying for school lunch.

That decision, made by Noble Middle School Administration, quickly upset many parents and people in the community as it seemed to directly impact the students, rather than those in charge of paying those fees.

One mother, Mary Vance, made a Facebook post expressing her concern for the children who could not participate in Field Day.

This prompted hundreds of people to speak out about the school’s decision, and prompted one mother to start a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise money to pay back the debt so the students could still participate.

“I think it’s important to pay down the deficit of the bill that is owed,” said Callen Powell, the mother who created the fundraiser.

According to Powell, shortly after she created the fundraiser, the school overturned its decision and said that all students were able to participate, regarldess of dues owed.

Although the decision was reversed, Powell still took a check with the money raised to Noble Middle School Tuesday.

“I wanted to bring the check to school today, they have their field day tomorrow. And although the decision has been overturned, and they were gonna be able to have it anyways, I was proud of the community for coming together to help pay down those dues. And that’s what we did here today.”

Powell said she thought of creating the GoFundMe after seeing how many people on the thread wanted to donate, but couldn’t travel to the school.

“There’s some people that love to give but they’re stuck at work, or they don’t know where Noble is, or they live in Burgaw and don’t want to come down here, but want to help. So, I started the GoFundMe so it would just make it easier for people to come together as a community and help out Noble Middle School.”

Powell said that because of every person involved, who they reached out to, or who shared the GoFundMe page with, this effort was made possible.

she also wrote in a note with the check that any leftover money that did not go towards lunch debts, she would like donated towards unpaid book fees.