Seymour, Mo., family works to pay off school lunch debt across the Ozarks

SEYMOUR, Mo. (KY3) - A family in Seymour has started a foundation to help pay off unpaid school lunch bills for students in rural parts of the Ozarks.

Joseph Barton said he realized the extent of lunch debt struggles many schools and families face after helping coach his niece and nephew’s basketball team. Barton brought the issue to his family group chat, and the family began working on a solution.

“That night we all kind of just got together and started the foundation and started with the smaller schools in the area to see what we could do to benefit there,” sister Shaylea York said.

How the foundation helps schools

Jojo’s Lunch Foundation now delivers a check once a week to one of ten schools across Webster and Wright counties. Fordland is one of the schools that receives help.

Fordland High School principal Josh Cook said the school helps families register for free and reduced lunches, but said there is sometimes still a gap in need.

“Sometimes even those families that fall in that reduced category need a little bit of help,” Cook said. “And unfortunately, there are sometimes families that fall right in that gap of they still need some extra help, but they don’t quite qualify for those. So we try to use those funds as best we can to do the most good.”

York said giving back to small towns is a way of life for the family.

“The small towns, you’re family. We all stick together and do what we can to help each other,” York said. “The bigger towns, I can go into Springfield and probably somebody I see, I’ll never see them again. Here, we see a lot of the same people every day. And to see a difference in the people that we know and that we call family makes a big difference.”

Plans to expand

Barton said the foundation plans to keep growing.

“I’d like to, as grown as I could, add at least five more schools every year and then keep growing and eventually be able to do every school in Missouri,” Barton said.

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