All past-due meal debts incurred by students enrolled in the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District have been paid off following a $4,674 donation from the newly-formed nonprofit organization Healthy Food Healthy Minds and a cumulative $2,198 donation from the Sisterhood Connection Foundation, Pioneer Title Agency, anonymous donors and the National Christian Foundation.
Outstanding meal debt among COCSD students was $6,872 for 353 students.
“Your generosity ensures that no child is left worrying about their lunch balance, allowing them to focus on what truly matters — learning, growing and thriving,” COCSD announced in a Jan. 7 Facebook post. “This act of kindness demonstrates the power of community and the impact we can make when we work together. Thank you for supporting our students and families in such a meaningful way.”
Phoenix-based Healthy Food Healthy Minds was incorporated with the Arizona Corporation Commission on Nov. 12 and was formed to “secure funding in the form of grants and private donations to be distributed to school districts to provide relief for school lunch debt,” according to its filing with the ACC.
“The current funding source is a personal, interest-free loan from me,” board president Lee Spencer said. “ As soon as the 501(c)(3) status comes through, we will be applying for foundation, corporate and government grants. We also plan to launch a social media campaign which we hope will result in personal donations.”
Spencer said that she started the nonprofit with her son Mason Walter when she came across a news article about how much meal debt is held by families in Arizona.
“[I] started poking around and found that there is no local nonprofit addressing this issue,” Spencer said. “The mission of HFHM is to reduce the financial stress of families who carry school meal debt and to eliminate the possibility that a child might be shamed for being identified as being from a family that carries debt.”
COCSD Superintendent Jessica Vocca said that the donation primarily benefited working-class families in the district and that the district has started offering no-cost meals to its students funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Provision this year. The CEP program will run through at least the next four years, at which time the district must reapply.
“Every meal a student eats is reimbursed to the district from federal funds,” COCSD announced on July 25. “The more students who participate in school lunch and breakfast, the more money our schools receive.” For a district to be eligible for participation in CEP, at least 25% of the district’s enrolled students must qualify for state match programs such as Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Sedona-Oak Creek School District also joined the CEP program during the summer and wrote off its students’ remaining meal debt.
“This year, all kids eat for free. But in past years, almost my daily job was just collecting negative meal balances on a daily basis,” COCSD food service manager Bethany Campista said. “[Now] I am able to focus on program integrity almost 100%, checking that our district is upholding National School Lunch Program rules and regulation. It’s freed me up so that now I also help out in other departments. So I help out in transportation, doing the radio and phones. And now I also have started helping facilities, inventory, and taking all the inventories on all five of our campuses.”
COCSD previously allowed students to charge up to $15 on their meal accounts, at which point Campista would contact the parents to collect payment.
Campista said that the number of meals served within COCSD since the district adopted free meals has increased from 6,492 breakfasts in August 2023 to 14,100 breakfasts in August 2024 and from 22,298 lunches to 27,734 over the same time period.
“The [long-term goal] of HFHM is to reduce the financial stress of families who carry school meal debt and to eliminate the possibility that a child might be shamed for being identified as being from a family that carries debt,” Spencer said.
For more information, visit healthyfoodhealthyminds.org or contact Spencer at leehfhm@gmail.com.
