Prison inmates raise nearly $4,000 to help pay off school lunch debt for kids

A group of prison inmates raised funds in order to substantially pay down a school district’s unsettled lunch debt.

At the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, Norton Community Schools (USD 211), a public unified school district located in northwest Kansas, had an unsettled debt of roughly $6,000.

This was a result of breakfast and lunch meals provided each day to students whose families faced food insecurity, and couldn’t pay their child’s account as a result. However, an unlikely group of fundraisers chipped in to help out.

Prison inmates from Norton Correctional Facility came to the rescue

As per Action News 5, Reaching Out From Within (ROFW), an organization at Norton Correctional Facility in which prisoners aim to “make lasting changes in their behavior and become role models for nonviolence”, were presented with the issue and chose to help.

An organized fundraiser helped members the inmates to collect $3,810. This total was pushed to $4,267 when Kansas Department of Corrections staff members also pitched in an additional $457 to support.

Norton Community Schools Superintendent Corey Roy was presented with the $4,267 by just shy of 30 incarcerated men. Roy said he was “moved at how the men […] wanted to make a positive impact to help others in the community.”

“I was very appreciative to have the chance to talk to them as a group, but also individually to hear how this made them feel to help someone else. I wanted them to know that they made a difference in a positive way,” he continued.

“In listening to them, I believe this gave them a chance to reflect and know that moving forward they can make choices that are positive for themselves and others in the community.”

For more charity stories, check out our coverage of CDawgVA’s Cyclethon 5 finish that saw him raise nearly $1.5 million for charity or the $70 million raised for kids with cancer by a streamer.