Norton Community Schools in northwest Kansas finished the 2025-26 school year about $6,000 in the hole on student meal accounts. The deficit was accumulated from breakfasts and lunches served to kids whose families couldn’t cover the cost. USD 211 is among the school districts that keep serving hot meals even when accounts go negative, rather than handing students alternative meals or singling them out at the cash register.
Men incarcerated at the Norton Correctional Facility heard about the debt and decided to take it on. They organized through Reaching Out From Within, an incarcerated-led rehabilitation program founded in Kansas in 1982 that operates in prisons in Kansas, Missouri, and North Carolina.
According to a Facebook post from the prison, the men raised $3,810 from their own personal accounts. Staff at the Kansas Department of Corrections added another $457, bringing the total to $4,267 and covering roughly 71% of what the district was owed.
On August 3, about 30 inmates gathered at the facility to hand over the money to district superintendent Corey Roy.
“I was moved at how the men I spoke with wanted to make a positive impact to help others in the community,” Roy said. “I think it gave them a sense of purpose and knowledge that they made a difference for a young person they don’t even know.”
Roy said that when he talked with the men afterward, several told him they had gone hungry as children themselves, and that it had affected their schooling.
“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,” Roy said. “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.”
