Lawrenceville woman pays off all lunch debts at Gwinnett County school

Thanks to the generosity of a local real estate agent, Bethesda Elementary School’s delinquent lunchroom accounts have all been paid.

On the day before the 2022-23 school year ended in Gwinnett County, Nelldra Allen came to Bethesda Elementary in Lawrenceville and cleared the cafeteria books to the tune of nearly $500.

“I was at a school meeting and the principal, Katrina Larmond, is very proactive,” said Allen. “She mentioned that there was a balance on school lunches. When COVID came, everybody’s lunch was free. This year is the first year that it was back to people having to pay.

“It was difficult for a lot of families to make that transition to having to pay again. And I said I would pay the balance on the lunch tab. It was easy to say that. God has blessed us so much. We all have enough and can share it around a bit. We can help other people.”

Gwinnett’s oldest school is both a Title I and a Title III school, with a majority of students attending eligible for free lunches and where a substantial number of students’ primary language is not English.

Laura Todd, who serves as the school’s Parent Outreach Liaison, said that Allen — who has three children at the school, one of whom just graduated — often looks for ways to help families.

“I interpret and translate material and teach English classes for parents with the goal to help parents help their kids,” said Todd. “Nelldra came to my English classes to learn Spanish — a funny twist. She figured she could pick up Spanish while the ladies were learning English.

“I got to know her throughout the years and she’s just a wonderful parent, and the day before school gets out she quietly goes to the cafeteria and pays off all the kids’ delinquent lunch balances. The week before that, she treated the entire staff — 150 of us — to Chick-fil-A one morning. She’s always doing things like that.”

Allen has also brought food trucks to the school, which numbers about 1,300 students, and paid for everyone to have lunch and she’s also sponsored (and catered) Teacher Appreciation Days.

“I used to be a teacher in Gwinnett County and I am always very appreciative of teachers,” she said.

Todd said that students with balances on their lunchroom accounts do not receive their report cards.

“At the beginning of the year, before the parents can apply for free lunch, they are charged for lunch and most of those charges linger until the end of the year,” said Todd, who has worked at the school for 13 years. “Then parents have to pay the charges or the kids don’t get their report cards. It makes a difference to a lot of moms who might not have had $20 to go pay their kid’s balance. It’s a reality. $20 to a lot of our families is a big deal.”

“The school was in need and it was something I could do,” said Allen. “It’s a hard transition and I know a couple of families it was really tough for. I thought about people that were struggling and that this was something I could do to help.”

Allen and her husband Brian also run a nonprofit called Purposefully Covering The Gap that helps Black and Hispanic families work through the financial mazes that come with purchasing a home. She said the nonprofit has already awarded $8,000 in grants to six families this year.

“Nelldra helps low-income families secure loans and walks them through the process and does a lot of pro bono work to help people get into their first homes,” said Todd. “She gave a two-hour workshop at the school educating parents about different loans they might be eligible for based on income and status. She helps people left and right.”

“I’m always looking for ways to help in the community,” said Allen.