The BASD school board had an unusual but exciting item to discuss at the September finance committee meeting. Kindness Is Magic, a small nonprofit organization, has reached out to BASD after hearing about the current school lunch debt the district faces, and the students it impacts. Kindness has already established a successful track record with East Penn and Saucon Valley school districts, but is now moving on to the substantially larger Bethlehem schools.

The organization has two goals; the first is to help mitigate school lunch debt through fundraising efforts. It intends to reach out to local community organizations and business, but already has interest from people and organizations outside of Bethlehem, who feel compelled to help.

Planned events include fall festivals and face painting, and they plan to kick off the campaign with a used shoe drive running from Sept. 24 through Nov. 24. The shoe drive will entail drop boxes throughout the area, with a goal of collecting 2,500 pairs of gently used shoes, which is estimated to generate approximately $1,000 in revenue.

The second goal is to reach out to the students who are currently hunger challenged throughout the district. This will include nutrition programs, and targeting resources to the students who need them most. The plan is to work school by school, and it was agreed to start with Thomas Jefferson ES, which currently has a school lunch debt of $4,000. After tackling the first school, they will continue to move throughout the district, and the BASD board is already planning to celebrate the success of the program.