WMAL Interview - DR. BECKY DOMOKOS-BAYS - 03.27.18

INTERVIEW - Loudoun County Schools Nutrition Services Director DR. BECKY DOMOKOS-BAYS – discussed ongoing efforts by concerned citizens in Loudoun County to eliminate school lunch debt and a fundraiser that is being held to help pay off the debt

•    Concerned citizens make move to wipe out school lunch debt in Loudoun Co. (WTOP) -- Concerned citizens and a local organization are joining forces for the second year in a row to eliminate school meal debt for Virginia’s Loudoun County public school students. Loudoun County Schools Nutrition Services Director Becky Domokos-Bays said two local residents approached her by phone after learning, through media reports, about a citizen in another district who paid off local school meal debts. “I put those [two] people together, and we noodled it over a bit,” Domokos-Bays said. “They decided working with the Loudoun Education Foundation would be the most efficient way to run the fundraiser.”
•    Fundraiser Aims To Pay Off Student Meal Debt in Loudoun County Posted on March 26, 2018 (WMAL) -- Kids in Loudoun County Schools owe the school system $20,000 for unpaid meal bills. An effort is now underway to raise enough money in donations to pay off that debt. “While Loudoun is considered the richest county in the United States, there are folks who need help, and I thought it was a great match to work with our local school system to help those who may need some assistance,” said former mayor of Purcellville Bob Lazaro. Lazaro and another parent talked to the school system’s nutrition services director Dr. Becky Domokos-Bays, and she welcomed the help. Now through the end of April the Loudoun Education Foundation is accepting donations. According to the application for free or reduced lunch for the current school year on the school system’s website, kids who come from a family of four with a yearly income of $45,510 or less qualify for free or reduced lunches under federal guidelines. Lazaro said some families make too much to get the assistance, but still struggle financially.