St. Paul, Immanuel Lutheran youth ministry raises $2,400 to help eliminate Dixon schools' lunch debt

DIXON – Dixon’s St. Paul and Immanuel Lutheran churches raised a total of $2,430 to help pay off Dixon Public Schools’ student lunch debt through two fundraisers led by the youth ministry, Gerad Von Holten, praise band director at St. Paul, told Shaw Local.

In December, the total debt – stemming from unpaid student lunch fees – stood at about $9,625, which is when Destiny McElhinney, a mom of a third grader at Jefferson Elementary, began fundraising to pay it off. She was quickly joined by Brett Nicklaus of the nonprofit organization Trinity Cares, who created the campaign “Nourish to flourish,” and by Dec. 24, the debt was paid at two schools.

[ Donations paying off Dixon school’s student lunch debt spark larger conversation about school fees ]

St. Paul and Immanuel co-pastors Anthony Windau and Riley Reed-Windau heard about the effort and brought the issue to their church councils. They then decided to use all proceeds from the February children’s offering to help pay off the lunch debt, Windau said in a previous interview with Shaw Local.

The children’s offering, separate from the churches' regular giving, is done during worship services and Sunday school classes, Von Holten said.

In addition, the youth ministry was planning a fundraiser to support its events and programming like it usually does, but this time the group decided that it also wanted it to benefit the community, and one member suggested the lunch debt, Von Holten said.

Youth ministry ended up having a spaghetti bake dinner at St. Paul Church on Feb. 21. That dinner raised $1,000 for events and $1,000 to help pay off the debt, he said.

The church fundraisers are a much-needed revival for the campaign, which only received a total of two donations since Dec. 25 for a total of $148, Nicklaus said.

Nicklaus' goal is to set up a lunch fund for the district to prevent the balance from accumulating again, he said.

For information, visit trinityifs.com or donate at paypal.com.