When Warwick Public Schools in Rhode Island revealed the serious debt of unpaid account balances for students’ school lunches, Chobani stepped in to lend a hand.
Over fifteen hundred low-income students in the district had wracked up a collective $77,000 in lunch debt. Upon hearing of the debts, Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, volunteered to pay almost $48,000 of the debt.
The public school’s announcement of the debts caused a lot of backlash when it stated that any students with unpaid lunch debt would be served sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches until their balances were paid. So, Ulukaya recorded his own video letting them know they would take care of the majority of the debt.
as a parent, news of #WarwickPublicSchools breaks my heart. every child should have access to natural, nutritious & delicious food, so @Chobani is doing our small part to help pay this debt
— Hamdi Ulukaya (@hamdiulukaya) May 9, 2019
business must do its part.. our responsibility as members of community. who will join us? pic.twitter.com/6HOTjDE4CX“For every child, access to naturally nutritious and delicious food should be a right, not a privilege,” Ulukaya said in a statement. “When our children are strong, our families are stronger. And when our families are strong, our communities are stronger. Business can and must do its part to solve the hunger crisis in America and do its part in the communities they call home.”
Chobani is also donating food and yogurt to the people of the Warwick community.