MoCo Schools Get $60K To Pay Off School Lunch Debt

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Montgomery County Public Schools was granted a hefty gift to help its students pay off their school lunch debts, according to reports.

Bethesda-based DARCARS Automotive Group donated $30,000 to the school district in order to help students pay down their outstanding school lunch debt at Tuesday press conference, according to a Bethesda Magazine report.

WUSA9 reported DARCARS Chief Operating Official Jamie Darvish presented the check, with the memo "Dine with Dignity," referring to a MCPS program intended to help students avoid embarrassment by ensuring all students are fed equally, regardless of debt.

Wheaton-based Washington Music Center also presented a $30,000 check for the same purpose, Bethesda Magazine reported.

Dine with Dignity led the successful push to end the practice of MCPS giving alternative lunches, often cold sandwiches, to kids whose lunch debt exceeded $10.

"These donations help make sure lunch is a safe zone where kids can focus on relationships and not focus on what they’re going to eat," said Yolanda Pruitt, executive director of the MCPS Educational Foundation, the Bethesda Magazine report said.