At least at Thomas Ultican Elementary School, kids can now eat without going broke thanks to fifth grader Daken Kramer.
After giving his Blue Springs, Missouri, grade school a check for more than $7,300, Daken paid off all of their meal debt and then some. Daughter Daken’s mother, Vanessa Kramer, says that his first goal was $3,500, which was just over the school’s total debt. Blue Springs High School, which is also in the area, got the rest of the money.
“Elementary school kids shouldn’t have any debts attached to their names.” We found out that some high schools don’t let seniors go to prom or walk at graduation if they owe money on things like student lunches, Kramer said. “Some families just can’t help it.” They are not able to pay it back.
In a video that he posted on his mom’s Facebook page, Daken asked “friends, family, and local businesses to give what they can to this cause.”
When Daken asked Kramer to find out about the school’s meal bill, he called Blue Springs School District. As time went on, people in places like Texas, Florida, and New Jersey joined the online fundraiser. In just two weeks, Daken’s fundraiser raised more than twice as much as his original goal.
The Daken Kramer Legacy Award will now be given every year to fifth graders who want to make their own mark, since Daken graduated from fifth grade on Tuesday.
“Your selfless actions will affect dozens of students across the district,” Daken’s teacher Kristi Haley told him as she gave him the award. There’s something more important than the amount of money you earned, though that was amazing. Your desire to help others, your drive, your determination, and your grit gives us hope.
Daken was shocked by the award.
“It really came as a surprise.” He said, “I had no idea they were going to do that.” “And I began to feel a lot of different emotions.”
An elementary school lunch in the Blue Springs School District costs $2.55, but kids who are in need can get it for only 40 cents, according to the district.
Katie Woolf, a spokeswoman for the Blue Springs School District, told CNN Thursday that about 29% of the 15,000 students who go to that school are qualified for a free or reduced lunch.
Woolf says that the Blue Springs School District owes more than $235,000 in meal debt, but Daken’s fundraiser paid off his school’s food debt. Twenty schools at different levels make up the area.
According to the school nutrition directors who are members of the School Nutrition Association and who answered the association’s 2024 survey, meal debt ranged from $10 to about $1 million in the school districts that their members represent, which is about one-fifth of all school districts in the US. This information was gathered by the group as part of their efforts to get more money for school meal programs.
The group says that in November 2023, the median reported district meal debt was about $5,495 among districts whose members filled out the survey. This was more than the $5,164 that was reported in the survey the previous year.
Kramer and Daken are now working with a Missouri state representative to see if they can take their efforts to the next level. They want to get more people to care about the problem of school meal debt.
Kramer said that seeing how many people reached out to help showed her that one person can make a difference.
“As his mom, I’m so proud that he is mature enough to see that there is a problem and that if the people who have the power to make a change won’t do anything, then he will step up and make a change,” she said.
For Daken, an orange chicken and rice bowl is the best school lunch. He says that kids don’t have to do anything special to win the next Daken Kramer Legacy Award.
The person said, “They don’t have to do much to get the award.” “Only if they really care and want to help the school,” she said.