Entertainment

Rapper T.I. buys teen's school lunch for the year

By Fiza Pirani, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Rapper T.I. paid for school lunch for the rest of the year for a student who was allegedly denied food over 15 cents. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Viacom)

By Fiza Pirani, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ORLANDO, Fla. — After news of a teen at University High School in Orlando, Florida, reportedly being denied a school lunch spread online, Atlanta rapper T.I., outraged by the incident, stepped in to help.

According to multiple media outlets, the student's mother said her sophomore daughter came up 15 cents short while checking out on the first day of school.

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"She puts her food on the tray, gets to the front, gives her number to the cashier, and she says, 'Well, you owe 15 cents,'" mother Kimberly Aiken said. "My daughter said she didn't have any money, so the cashier took her food."

Aiken said she had signed up for the free- and reduced-cost lunch program, which hadn’t taken effect yet.

"The school is always willing to work with students and families as needed," Volusia County Public Schools spokesman Roger Edgcomb said in a statement to media. "The school will be contacting the family directly to help resolve this issue."

When she showed up to pay for her meal on Wednesday -- with money to make up for any account shortages -- the sophomore’s meal had been taken care of.

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The Atlanta rapper read about the incident after activist Shaun King shared the news on Instagram on Aug. 19.

"I'd like to take care of her school lunch for the year. I hate to hear this type of thing happening to our children," the rapper wrote on Twitter, adding that those kinds of  situations deter kids from coming to school.

According to Aiken, T.I. kept his word. She also created a separate GoFundMe for students and families who can't afford school lunch.

 

Cox Media Group

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