Tacoma students write thank-you letters to Richard Sherman for paying off lunch debt
Tacoma fourth grader Malakai Basilio wants former Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman to know that his favorite food is turkey and gravy because the gravy is “really, really good.”
He also wants to thank Sherman, who now plays for the San Francisco 49ers, for paying off student lunch debt so that people can eat.
Basilio wrote both of those things down in a letter in class at Roosevelt Elementary School on Wednesday as part of a letter-writing lesson to give thanks to Sherman.
Sherman donated more than $22,000 through his family foundation, Blanket Coverage, over the Thanksgiving weekend to Tacoma Public Schools to pay down the lunch debt at six high-poverty schools.
Lincoln and Wilson high schools, First Creek Middle School and McCarver, Lister and Reed elementary schools all received part of the donation.
“The last thing any child should have to worry about is being able to afford eating breakfast and lunch at school; we aim to do our part in eliminating that obstacle,” Blanket Coverage community outreach director Bryan Slater wrote in a letter to the district.
Tacoma Public Schools is no stranger to lunch debt. When the state passed the Hunger-Free Students Bill of Rights in 2018, prohibiting districts from denying students food due to their inability to pay, district meal debts across the state skyrocketed.
As of November, Tacoma’s debt stood at about $180,000.
That’s not the case anymore, said Dan Voelpel, district spokesman. Sherman’s donation and another recent donations of $151,000 by the Ruth Foundation has significantly shrunk the debt.
“We think it’ll go a long way to wiping out almost all of our student lunch debt districtwide,” Voelpel said.
Now, Tacoma and other districts across the state are comparing notes and strategies to keep lunch debts down, Voelpel said.
“No one’s come up with a perfect solution yet,” he said.
Basilio said the donation made him feel happy and thankful.
“People’s families, they don’t have enough to pay for their lunch,” Basilio explained as he wrote his letter.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 6:10 AM.
