An Eldersburg restaurant recently donated $1,040 to erase student meal debt at Century High School in Sykesville. Despite that donation, Carroll County Public Schools’ systemwide student meal debt still totals $14,051 as of this week.

Basta Pasta in Eldersburg made the $1,040 donation, the district announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

The school system is aiming to eliminate an additional $10,000 of meal debt this year through the Feeding School Kids program, an initiative of the Giant Company, said Karen Sarno, supervisor of Food Services for the school system. As part of the program, when shoppers round up a purchase to the nearest dollar at the Martin’s grocery store at 1320 Londontown Blvd., Eldersburg, the money goes to address school lunch debt.

“This is a chronic problem across Maryland and the country,” Sarno said in an email. “In Carroll County, we try to stay ahead of the problem thanks to the generous donations of our businesses and community members.”

Carroll County elementary school students may purchase breakfast for $1.50 or lunch for $2.50; for middle school students breakfast is $1.75 and lunch costs $2.75; and for high schoolers the cost for breakfast is $1.75 and lunch is $3.

At school, students can use cash to pay for meals or parents can load money onto an online account through the vendor My School Bucks. Each student is issued a unique 5-digit personal identification number that they can use to pay for school meals.

In 2022, Sarno said that about one in five Carroll students were eligible for federal aid to receive free or reduced-price meals. Any child who cannot pay for food receives a meal in the cafeteria at lunchtime even if there are insufficient funds in their account, according to Sarno.

“Our philosophy is to feed the student regardless of whether funds are available at the register,” Sarno said in an email.

Maryland law forbids any direct communication with a child regarding meal debt, though parents are alerted.

The school system accepts donations to offset unpaid meal debt year-round. A group of Carroll County business owners cleared all students’ school lunch debts in 2020, with a donation of $6,000, and provided an additional $1,200 to offset further lunch debt. The donations benefitted about 1,000 students, according to CCPS spokesperson Carey Gaddis. Participating businesses were Gauge Digital Media, Maryland IT Solutions, The Michael Griesser Group, Condon’s Auto Parts, Rising Tide Academy — Gracie JiuJitsu, Captain Jerry’s Custom Shirts, Young Septic Services and Tomlin Technologies.

Anyone who would like to contribute funds to reduce unpaid meal debt may send a check made out to Carroll County Public Schools with School Meal Debt Donation written on the memo line. Checks can be mailed to: Karen Sarno, Food Services Carroll County Public Schools, 125 N. Court St., Westminster, MD 21157. Donors may request that funds be applied to an individual school or the system at large. Donations are used for the neediest students or those with the highest debt, Sarno said. The donors remain anonymous.

Families experiencing financial difficulty can apply for free or reduced-price meals at any time during the school year at www.myschoolapps.com.

Have a news tip? Contact Thomas Goodwin Smith at thsmith@baltsun.com.