There are kids right here in our community who go without lunch each school day because they don't have the money to pay for it. Sonic aims to change that. Sonic is teaming up with the nonprofit Louisiana Lunch Money to help ensure that every Lafayette Parish student gets a hot meal at school. From 5-8 p.m. Thursday (tonight), eight Sonic locations are participating in a fundraiser that will send 10 percent of all sales to the nonprofit.
Lunch Money founder Cerrisa Couvillion says the organization covers lunches for about 230 students daily in Lafayette Parish at a cost of roughly $400 a day; since it was founded in August of 2011, it has funded nearly 8,000 lunches for elementary and middle school children. But it is running out of funds.
While the school system offers a free and reduced lunch program, some students lack funds because their families fall on hard times, forget their lunch or don't have enough money in their account to get a hot meal. Instead, they are offered a "snack meal," which in Lafayette Parish is graham crackers and milk. "These kids are the ones who slip through the cracks," Local Sonic spokesman Gary Wilkerson says. "We think something needs to be done about it."
Participating Sonics include Ambassador Caffery Parkway, Kaliste Saloom Road, the two stores on Johnston and the two on Pinhook Road, as well as locations in Broussard and Carencro.
And if you haven't tried the Ragin' Cajun burger yet, tonight's the night.