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Keoni Ching wanted to do something to help some of the kids at his school for Kindness Week.

He knew that some of the kids owed money for their lunches for a variety of reasons, including forgetting their money or because their parents were struggling to pay.

There is a debate about whether schools should have debts at all after some shamed children who couldn’t pay or stopped them going to things like prom. On the one hand, they need to cover costs but on the other, children shouldn’t be worried about going hungry. Some states in the U.S. have banned the practice of denying food from students who have debt.



But as the lunch debt system is in place at his school, Keoni, from Vancouver, Washington, decided that he could at least do something to help those in need there.


He created keychains to raise some money, with the help of his parents.

He told CNN: ‘I love key chains. They look good on my backpack.’

Keoni Ching made and sold custom key chains (Picture: KGW News)

Soon requests came from all over the country and Keoni created 300 of the custom accessories, raising over $4,000 (£3,078).

His mum April said: ‘There was one lady who said she wanted $100 (£77) worth of key chains so that she could just hand them out to people. …

‘There were several people who bought one key chain and gave (Keoni) a hundred bucks. It was absolutely amazing how much support the community showed for his whole project.’

He was able to pay off $500 (£385) of lunch debt at Benjamin Franklin Elementary, and add another $500 for any future debt.

The rest went to six other schools in the area.

Benjamin Franklin Elementary principal Woody Howard said: ‘Lunches here are about $2. But if you have two or three kids and for whatever reason, you’ve missed (paying for) a week of lunch or breakfasts, that adds up pretty quickly.

‘This type of gift takes a little bit of pressure off of your family.’

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