US teacher asks TikTok to help crush his students’ lunch debt. He got ‘insane’ response

Jones’ video got more than five million views as of Feb 22 and seemed to strike a chord with many who grappled with lunch debt in their childhood. — Image by jcstudio on Freepik

A Utah teacher was left stunned after he asked TikTok to help crush his middle school students’ lunch debt.

Inspired by the idea of raising money to wipe out the debt, Garrett Jones talked to the cafeteria staff at Rocky Mountain Middle School in Heber City to figure out exactly how much was owed.

They gave him a rough estimate of US$8,600 (RM38,132), he said in a TikTok video.

“At that point, I was like, ‘We’re not going to get that (much),’ but whatever we do is going to be cool, right?” Jones said. “We’ll make a little dent, we’ll change somebody’s life a little bit, which will be good.

“I was wrong.”

After Jones posted a video asking for donations, tens of thousands of dollars poured in – a response he called “insane”.

First it was US$2,000 (RM8,868), then US$5,000 (RM22,170), eventually climbing past US$30,000 (RM133,020), Jones, a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at the school, told USA Today.

Jones’ video got more than five million views as of Feb 22 and seemed to strike a chord with many who grappled with lunch debt in their childhood.

“The last thing a kid should be worrying about is how much they owe for meals at a place they’re legally obligated to be,” Jones wrote. “Kids can’t learn if they’re hungry and don’t deserve to be handed a bill for lunch at a place they have to be. School lunch should be free.”

“Makes me so mad this is still a thing,” one person commented. “I barely had food to eat at home and the school refused me lunch all the time because I didn’t have lunch money.”

“Literally the best US$20 (RM89) I’ll spend in 2023,” another person told Jones. “You’re changing so many lives.” – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service