BILLINGS- A call to action is all it took for a Billings father to get all lunch debts in the Billings school district to be paid.
However, Alex Clark says his mission to keep students fed isn’t over.
Clark knows all too well how important a sturdy meal is. He has two growing boys both attending Billings School District 2.
“We look at the base needs of humans," said Clark. “Having sustenance, having food and being safe is how we get to grow as humans.”
When his own son came home from school one day hungry, he sought answers as to why.
“He was ravenous. He started eating everything in sight,” he said.
His eyes were opened to what happens when school lunch debts aren’t paid.
“It turns out if you are in the negative for more than five days, you get a sun butter sandwich or a cheese sandwich, and that’s kind of the policy they have in place right now,” said Clark.
Fast forward to the start of the 2023-2024 school year, when that core memory propelled Clark to take to social media to ask for change and for help.
“I did not expect that outpouring of support,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to go viral as it did, but I think that was such a calling.”
His social media post went viral, with hundreds of reactions, and thousands of dollars later, they had raised enough money to help this year’s student lunch debts and save a little for the next.
In Montana, according to state Office of Public Instruction, half of the lunch meals served to children are for free or at a reduced price, based on income.
Sid Taylor, who oversees nutrition for the Billings school district, says when families dip into a negative balance, there’s a plan to keep kids fed.
“They are allowed five meals, and after those five meals we offer them an alternative meal,” said Taylor.
Taylor says no child is ever turned away from a meal.
“Everybody wants to do the right thing for the kid,” he said. “And wants to do the right thing for the families.”
But the reality is, when children are all gathered at the lunch table and one’s meal looks different from another, Clark says even that simple fix can still be humiliating for a child.
“Because everybody else is getting full lunch and they are sitting there with a plastic-wrapped sandwich,” said Clark.
As Clark was doing an interview with Q2 News, he got a call from new school superintendent Dr. Erwin Garcia informing him that this year, the district would cover those negative school meal balances, allowing all students to start back at zero debt.
He says that good faith effort doesn’t address a long-term problem of food insecurity in the district. It's an argument he continued to make to trustees at a recent school board meeting.
“Parents are applying for free or reduced, and maybe that process takes a little longer,” said Clark. “Again, school lunch debt is still going to accumulate."
Clark says the school board and parents were thankful, but he added many seem cautiously optimistic due to the district already having high budget hurdles to tackle.
Clark also launched a Facebook page called SLAY for Billings families to donate. The community raised over $13,000 in donations to keep those negative lunch balances in the black. He says those donations are now in the hands of the Billings Education Foundation.
Ultimately Clark’s goal is to never see a child go hungry or have a negative meal balance, but in the meantime, he says he hopes to have a larger conversation around providing for our children and making sure they’re fed.
