Chobani to pay off $85,000 in lunch debt for Idaho school district

Twin Falls, Idaho - Yogurt company Chobani has offered to pay off $85,000 in student lunch debt at an Idaho school district. The Twin Falls School District announced Tuesday that the donation would cover the debt acquired by more than 900 students during the last school year.

The New York-based company operates a plant in Twin Falls.

District spokeswoman Eva Craner said the school system still has about $115,000 in lunch debt from previous years. "From year to year students often accumulate debt that the district is forced to cover and cannot spend in other ways to improve education," Craner said in a statement. So Chobani's donation will help ease that burden for this school year.

The Twin Falls School District serves roughly 5,600 lunches and 2,100 breakfasts per day throughout the school year, according to Craner. She said the schools make sure students are fed even if they don't have money in their lunch accounts.

Chobani said in a statement that it reached out to the Idaho district in May at around the time it paid off lunch debt for schools in Warwick, Rhode Island. In that case the Warwick district had announced in May that students who couldn't pay for lunch would receive sunflower butter and jelly sandwiches until they can pay off their debt.