St. Katharine Drexel parishioners close the school year with a gift to eliminate public school lunch debt

Feeding the hungry has become an important part of the outreach at St. Katharine Drexel in Frederick. The parish is especially focused on making sure students at Yellow Springs Elementary, which is nearby, have food to eat on the weekend.

That’s why the parish works with other community organizations, including Brookhill United Methodist Church, to provide weekend food for students who receive free and reduced-price lunches.

This spring, the parish took its outreach a step further, reaching out with a donation of $11,800 to pay off the school lunch debt for every family within Frederick County Public Schools.

“Our hope was to lift a burden from families who are having a difficult time making ends meet,” said Brian McCrohan, pastoral associate for St. Katharine Drexel. “The economy hasn’t been great and inflation has been awful. This was just something that our community could do for our neighbors and the county.”

This marks the second time the parish has made a donation to assist local families by wiping out school lunch debt. St. Katharine Drexel did that first in 2020 when it saw the need. This year the parish recognized the need again, and parishioners stepped up to make the donation possible.

The funds came both through a general invitation to the congregation and from direct support from a few families who regularly support the weekend meals for Yellow Springs Elementary students.

“We have parishioners who are very generous in supporting that outreach to our community,” said McCrohan, who has served on the staff there for 21 years and seen how the parish strives to put faith into action. “Our social justice ministry is obviously involved in a number of different outreaches to the local community, as well as nationally and internationally.”

The donation to pay off the school lunch debt has a meaningful impact on students and their families, said Dr. Stephanie Ware, a school administration and instructional leadership director for Frederick County Public Schools.

“Students should come to school ready to learn each day and not worried about whether or not they can eat lunch,” Ware said. “When generous donations pay off debt, students don’t have to worry about how their family will cover their account, and they can focus on learning and engaging with their peers.”

Over the past year, Frederick County Public Schools has seen school lunch debt climb.

“Times are difficult for some families and, with increases in other expenses, it has created more accumulated lunch debt in our schools,” Ware said. “Many generous individuals and groups have already made donations to schools, which is very much appreciated.  We would encourage anyone who wants to help make a difference for our students to consider doing the same.”

Although McCrohan could not confirm that St. Katharine Drexel will make the donation every year, he said it’s possible the parish could partner with other worship communities in the area, possibly through the Frederick Area Ministerial Association, to meet the need annually. For now, the parish will continue to look for opportunities to serve neighbors.

“We felt strongly that this was a wonderful way to live out our faith,” he said, acknowledging that he hesitated to share the news more widely. “It feels weird to blow a trumpet about it. The thing that we recognized, though, is there’s a lot of bad news that is in front of us all time, and it is nice for people to hear the good things also, inspiring people to do what they can, whether as an individual or as a parish community.”

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