Kansas Inmates ‘Took It Upon Themselves’ To Help Settle School Lunch Debt, Superintendent Says
Inmates at the Norton Correctional Facility in Kansas stepped up to help students at their local school district who have had difficulty paying for lunch.
The group of about 30 incarcerated men, who are part of their prison’s chapter of program Reaching Out From Within, donated $4,267 to cover unsettled school lunch debt at Norton Community Schools, superintendent Corey Roy tells TODAY.com. And in August, Roy visited the facility to accept the donation.
Roy says the contribution — that covered the majority of the estimated $6000 of outstanding debt from the 2025-2026 school year — was a moving display of care and empathy.
“What these inmates did without being asked by us,” Roy tells TODAY, pausing to reflect. “They took it upon themselves to cover that debt.”
Roy says that several of the inmates told him that they were motivated by their own experiences with food and economic insecurity and wanted to give back.
“They lived that kind of life when they were growing up,” Roy explains.
