9-Year-Old Pays Off Lunch Debt For Classmates

At 9 years old, I know I wasn’t concerned about bills being paid. 9-year-old Ryan, on the other hand, was. But it wasn’t for himself, it was his classmates. You see, he saw a news story about a young girl who couldn’t get a meal at school because of something called “lunch debt”. Apparently, she had dues to pay before her school could give her lunch.

He was so concerned about it that he asked his classmates if they had any of this debt and, to his surprise, they had a total of $74.50 that had to be paid back. Ryan knew what he had to do. He collected all of his allowance and arranged with his mother to donate his savings and pay off their dues. 

I am amazed that a child has the presence of mind to sacrifice his hard-earned money for the sake of his class!

It reminds me of the widow in the Bible who gave her last two copper coins as an offering. There may have been people who gave larger amounts of money, but the widow gave all she had. 75 dollars may not seem like much to most of us grown-ups, but to a 9-year-old kid, that’s a big chunk of change. I’m inspired by his generosity and I hope you are too!

Alex, Producer and Resident Millennial for the Kankelfritz and Friends Morning Show