Oklahoma man pays off thousands in students’ lunch debt to honor late wife

By Alyse Jones

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    CHANDLER, Oklahoma (KOCO) — A man who wiped away lunch debt for 20 Oklahoma schools said he his mission isn’t over yet.

Sean Cummings is traveling across the state to award schools the funds, saying he will continue to do this until the money runs out.

“If you have something bad happen and you have the opportunity to make it into something great, take it,” Cummings said.

With a stroke of a pen, nearly $2,000 went to 130 Chandler students to pay off their lunch debt.

“At the end of the year, these kids have some debt. It rolls over to next year and the next year,” Cummings said. “Some schools were pulling diplomas and stuff if they’re seniors, so we started with seniors first. Then, like we were able to do here, we did the entire school’s lunch debt, so now it’s over.”

Chandler wasn’t the only school reaping the benefits of his generosity. It was just one on a long list of schools Cummings said he hopes to help.

“We are a little over $40,000, but we are still sitting on $25,000,” Cummings said. “If it keeps working, we’re going to keep doing it. I will keep doing this as long as there’s money there.”

Cummings began the effort in honor of his late wife Cathy.

“This was one of the things. She was a chef. She owned restaurants, and her biggest thing was to feed people,” Cummings said.

Now, Cummings said he is fulfilling a dream his wife has always had.

“I think this would be honestly beyond anything in her wildest dreams. This is exactly what she’d like to see done with her legacy, and if nothing else, we could figure out a way for somebody in politics to solve this problem so it’s not a problem again next year,” Cummings said.

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