If students at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School in Minnesota couldn’t afford lunch, they knew they could go to “Mr. Phil.” Philando Castile would quietly pay out of his own pocket. 

Now, at least 1,788 schoolchildren have had their lunch debt erased as a way to honor the legacy of Castile, who was killed by police during a traffic stop in 2016. Philando Feeds the Kids has paid the debt for every student enrolled in the National School Lunch Program in St. Paul’s 56 schools, including J.J. Hill.

Children can’t focus on learning if they’re hungry. And school nutrition workers like Castile are the ones who most often see which kids are going without.

Generous people in other states like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania also have raised money to make sure the school lunch tray doesn’t come with a side of shame. And our EqualEd reporters wrote about New Mexico’s Hunger-Free Bill of Rights, which ensured that no child would be publicly embarrassed or go without food. 

Originally, the Minnesota fundraiser was designed to help J.J. Hill’s students, Pamela Fergus, an instructor who started it last fall with her psychology class at St. Paul's Metropolitan State University, told The New York Times. Now organizers have a new goal: Pay the cafeteria debt of every child in Minnesota.

The reasoning is simple: “He loved those kids,” Ms. Fergus says.

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