Brier Helping Brier erases another year’s school lunch debt

Will you chip in to support our nonprofit newsroom with a donation today?

Egyptians pastries are offered at the Neighbors Feeding Neighbors event at Brookview Church. (Photos by Nick Ng)

The nonprofit Brier Helping Brier (BHB) hit its goal again this year of raising more than $11,000 at its second annual Neighbors Feeding Neighbors event Saturday at Brookview Church in Brier. The initial goal was $8,000.

This amount will erase school lunch debts in Brier Elementary, Brier Terrace Middle School and Mountlake Terrace High School. Any extra funds go to Edmonds School District, which distributes them to other local schools with lunch debt.

Jazz students from Mountlake Terrace High School and Bothell High School jammed during the evening, and Reham’s Cake Gallery provided desserts and Egyptian mint tea for guests.

Musicians from Bothell and Mountlake Terrace high schools perform at the Neighbors Feeding Neighbors event.

BHB Executive Director Pat Rhoads said all donations are privately funded, including a sole business grant of $500 from Sound Community Bank. He added that the nonprofit started about nearly six years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic when a group of Brier residents wanted to help community members who were in a financial crisis.

Last year, BHB raised more than $12,000.

“We always had a vision that it would be something that lasted longer than the lockdowns and the social distancing,” Rhoads told My MLT News. “Our mission is to act as a bridge between people in our community who might need help – medical bills, unemployment – and the people in our community who want to help them.”

Brier Helping Brier Executive Director Pat Rhoads gives a background about why the nonprofit exists.

Edmonds School District Food Service Director Megan De Vries, who spoke at the fundraiser, said while the District has 20 schools where kids eat at no cost through federal or state funds, the Brier-area schools don’t qualify for this support because their percentage of students on free or reduced lunch is just below the 30% threshold.

De Vries added that families must make no more than 130% of the poverty rate to qualify for free or reduced school meals.

Edmonds School District Food Service Director Megan De Vries answers an attendee’s question on who qualifies for reduced-cost or free meals.

“It’s not enough for the state or the federal government to pick up funding for all the meals,” De Vries said. “You end up having students who might accrue some meal debt if they don’t get on meal benefits right away or their families don’t know how to apply.”

As a registered dietitian, De Vries said that school meals are designed to be nutritious. Breakfast offers whole grains, milk and fruits; lunch includes fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. She noted that in more than her 17 years in school food service in Washington, school meals have made “huge strides” with more fresh, local foods and a requirement that kids take a fruit or vegetable with their meal.

Edmonds School District Food Service Director Megan De Vries.

To distribute the funds, De Vries said the District starts by clearing debt from students who qualify for free meals. “Then we clear off the kiddos’ meal accounts that qualify for reduced meals, and then if there’s additional funds, we’d pay off [high school] seniors with a negative balance because you want your seniors to graduate without any balances and debt.”

School breakfast costs about $2 at elementary schools and $2.25 at secondary schools, and lunch costs about $3.50 or $3.75 at the elementary level and about $4 at secondary schools, according to De Vries.

“A lot of families do choose to bring a lunch from home, and so at our schools with a higher free or reduced rate, we feed more of those kiddos because those families are dependent on those school meals,” she said. “At Brier Elementary, we probably feed about 30% of their kids.”

“On behalf of Brier Helping Brier, I’m truly humbled by the generosity of everyone who came together to support this effort,” Rhoads said. “Community is at the heart of everything we do, and this event was a powerful reminder of what’s possible when neighbors show up for one another. We’re especially grateful to Sound Community Bank for their sponsorship, Brookview Church for their warm hospitality and Reham’s Cake Gallery for the incredible desserts that brought an extra touch of joy to the evening.”