COLLINGSWOOD -- A nonprofit started by two high school students to help put an end to "lunch shaming" has donated $1,000 to reduce the practice in this Camden County borough.

Christian Cordon-Cano, 17, of Florida, said the nonprofit School Lunch Fairy crowdfunds and then donates to schools to make sure students are not going hungry at lunch or being humiliated because they can't pay.

Cano said the donations don't pay down balances, but go into an "emergency lunch fund." Most districts don't make kids starve if they can't pay, but it might mean they only get a cold sandwich.

"If a kid does't have money to pay for lunch that day, they can use the emergency lunch fund to pay for their meal," Cano said. "We are hoping to find ways to inspire people in New Jersey and across the country to either donate towards this cause or to be vocal about the need for universal free meals, which seems to be the only real solution to this problem."

On the website, Cano and co-founder Bernardo Hasbach said they'd make every effort to direct donations to certain schools if donors specify where they'd like the funds to go.

District Business Administrator Beth Ann Coleman said she is working out the details of how the emergency fund will work with the cafeteria manager.

Last week, PhillyVoice reported that Robert Bennett, of Oaklyn, said his two sons had embarrassing moments in the cafeteria because he let their lunch balances get too low. His older son had a tray of food taken away from him, while his younger son would wait until after all the students had purchased their lunches and then go up with the students getting seconds for $1.

Coleman said she believes the older boy had his tray taken away because he was going through the a la carte line, and he would have been given an "alternative lunch," possibly a sandwich, if he went through the regular hot lunch line.

The issue of lunch shaming isn't new, as districts have for years tried various methods to get parents to pay up. According to NPR, some schools make students do chores to work for their lunch, or give them a hand stamp or wristband to show they owe money.

Whatever they do, it will have to become an official policy soon. NPR reported the USDA has required schools to establish policies by July 1 and communicate them to students and parents.

In recent months, New Mexico banned lunch shaming and several federal legislators have proposed a nationwide ban.

Collingswood isn't the only school district to take heat for the way it deals with lunch debts. In Fair Lawn, a student tweeted photos of a school assembly and said that students' names were read aloud and they were told they would not be able to graduate because they owed money for lunch, books or activities.

Coleman said that Collingswood schools do not read out names to publicly humiliate students and would never let a kid go hungry, though it is technically allowed.

"We reach out to the parents," she said. If a balance is negative, the school emails, calls and sends letters to parents over the course of 15 days before the student has to have the alternative lunch, which varies by the day. Balances don't go away, and can carry over from year to year.

Also in South Jersey, according to the Daily Journal, an anonymous donor gave $200 to help pay off students' lunch debts at Mennies Elementary School in Vineland.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.