Lowcountry Cuisine Fall/Winter 2019-20

www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.MountPleasantRestaurant.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com lowcountry cuisine LC 15 debt had ballooned to $600,000. So he and his wife, McKenzie, combined forces with the Charleston Restaurant Foundation, I Heart Hungry Kids and Lowcountry Blessing Box Project to create Catch Up On Lunch. Together, they raise funds and awareness to help alleviate the problem. “Looking at the school lunch debt, it’s evident that there is a problem. Kids are going to school, they don’t know if they’re going to be able to eat a meal. And they’re getting shame from the schools,” Kish elaborated. “It’s not the kids’ fault. It’s not necessarily the parents’ fault, but it should be a basic right to have a meal in school. Some schools have that as a basic right, some don’t.” Still a fledgling nonprofit, Catch Up On Lunch raised over $25,000 in its first year, largely through monetary donations and proceeds from “spirit night” fundraisers held at local restaurants. The funds have, so far, paid off the lunch debt for all students at four schools in the tri- county area. Catch Up On Lunch’s ripple effect reaches farther than just the lunch debt itself. “Otherwise, the schools absorb the debt, and it makes a big difference in their budget. It turns into a bigger problem for the schools, and then they have to ask questions like, ‘We have a lunch debt at the end of the year that we won’t be able to collect on. In that case, can we afford another teacher? Can we afford supplies?’ It’s more than just students not eating in school, it’s also that schools have to make other decisions based on their budgets,” he said. For Kish, the best part about Catch Up On Lunch is the impact it has on the children and their families. He recalled a situation in which over half of one school’s $3,000 lunch debt had been accumulated by two children from the same family. “It wasn’t the kids, it wasn’t the parents. They had fallen on hard times, and school lunches were something they couldn’t afford,” Kish explained. “For a family falling behind, Catch Up On Lunch can make a huge impact.” ANDREW CARMINES Every cloud has a silver lining, as the saying goes. For Andrew Carmines, the cloud of losing his brother David Jonathan Kish. Photo provided. Andrew Carmines. Photo provided.