Teen pays off lunch debt at school, raises money to do it at more schools

Missouri 14-year-old DeJuan Strickland remembers how painful it was not being able to pay for lunch when he was in the fourth grade at McCurdy Elementary in Florissant. To save other students from that hardship, he’s on a mission to pay off all the negative lunch balances at his former school.

Earlier this year, Strickland set up a GoFundMe with a goal to raise $200 to tackle school lunch debt. He quickly shot past his goal, raising $400, which he delivered to McCurdy. The school posted about the good deed on their social media thanking the teen for his help. But he wasn’t done yet.

Strickland’s crowdfund grew as word got out about his mission, so the teen expanded his plans to pay off student lunch debt in the entire school district. To date, he’s raised over $5-thousand, but as he’s learned more about the problem of school lunch debt, Strickland has come to realize he’ll need to do even more if he wants to eliminate it. After he graduates, he wants to attend M.I.T. to become a computer programmer, but he plans to keep up his philanthropic efforts, saying that he hopes in the future he can "give back at larger scales."

Source: GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Photo: Getty Images