Colorado Lunch Lady Fired For Helping Students Without Lunch Money [VIDEO]

A now "former" kitchen manager at a Colorado elementary school is now out of a job, for giving school lunches to students who didn't have enough money for lunch. Della Curry, a married mother of two, was the kitchen manager at Dakota Valley Elementary School in Aurora, until she was let go by the Cherry Creek School District.

Curry, seeing children who were unable to pay for lunch on a daily basis, felt an obligation to feed these young children. According to CBS Denver, Curry was quoted saying, "I had a first-grader in front of me, crying, because she doesn’t have enough money for lunch. Yes, I gave her lunch." She feels that the district and state, needs to change their requirements for families that are eligible for free or help in covering the cost of school lunches. Currently, for a family of four, to receive free lunches, the household income has to be less than $31,000 a year. To receive a reduced lunch cost, the household income has to be below $45,000.

While the Cherry Creek School District, along with other districts, have a policy of never letting a student go hungry. Providing a cheese sandwich and milk for any student who is unable to pay. Curry felt, no matter what the law states, that this was not enough. Especially when she would see he same students unable to pay, realizing there was a bigger problem for those students and families. She would either just give the students a free lunch, or pay for it our of her own pocket.

In a statement made by the Cherry Creek School District involving this situation:

The law does not require the school district to provide the meal to children who have forgotten their lunch money, that is a district decision. According to our practice, we provide hot meals to students the first three times they forget their lunch money and charge their parents’ accounts. The fourth time, we provide a cheese sandwich and milk.The district has worked to keep lunch prices low and still meet the federal nutrition requirements. The costs of our lunch program are not covered by the prices we charge. At the end of the year, any unpaid accounts revert back to the general fund which also covers instruction, security, building maintenance and overall operations.

Curry does admit that she did break the law. However, she feels that this is raising awareness of a larger issue, and is looking to bring it to the attention of the school board. She is doing this with the help of supportive parents of children that she helped. Asked if she would do it again, she said absolutely.