If your child’s lunch card has ever gone in the red and they were still able to buy a hot lunch, you can thank Adelle Settle, a Gainesville mom, attorney and activist. Settle is helping K-12 students across the nation eat a hot school meal without being singled out.
Settle grew up in Ypsilanti, Mich., a small blue-collar town about nine miles from Ann Arbor.
“We had a Ford factory in town…a lot of working folks. My town had a fair amount of poverty and middle class folks doing okay,” Settle said.
At that time, life was not always easy. At one point, her mom worked two jobs to support the family.
But Settle went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Albion College in Michigan, then a law degree from George Mason University. A Capitol Hill internship brought her to Northern Virginia.
She secured a job as a state affairs assistant for a Washington trade association, then became a law clerk and landed a job as an attorney for the federal government. She also gravitated toward helping those in need.
While working as a lawyer at the Social Security Administration, she organized its annual food drives for about a decade. She also served on the board for the Northern Virginia Food Rescue, where she continues to volunteer to this day.
These life experiences culminated in something bigger than she could imagine.
One day, she heard a story on the radio that upset her. A little boy in another state didn’t have money for his lunch.
“The lunch lady took the meal out of his hands and threw it in the trash – right in front of him and all his classmates. Instead, she handed the boy a cold cheese sandwich, and that was the alternative meal. It made no sense to throw that food away and punish a child,” Settle said.
Not everyone qualifies for free and reduced lunches, but families still experience temporary financial difficulties or simply make mistakes loading their lunch cards. In these situations their children were often penalized.
And many Virginia schools provided cheaper meals so as not to incur the debt themselves.
“The administrative staff had to make hard choices: choosing between giving kids a full healthy meal or educational opportunities. Many decided they would offer alternative meals. It wasn’t a meal. It was a Nutri-Grain bar, a cheese stick and a juice box or a milk. That’s a small snack for a child,” Settle said.
Then she learned that in 2017, Prince William school system’s total lunch debt exceeded $200,000.
“It felt like a huge lift. But at the time they were capping the amount of lunch debt that kids could go into,” she said. “So, the total amount could have been much higher.”
Settle took to social media to ask for help raising money to pay off the debt. One friend who responded was Maggie Hansford, a Bristow resident and Prince William teacher who now is president of the Prince William Education Association, the teacher’s union.
Hansford was eager to help, knowing Settle would dedicate herself to the cause.
“Her unwavering commitment to serving and supporting the community has made her a reliable and invaluable friend to many in Prince William County, always ready to assist those in need at a moment's notice,” Hansford said. “Adelle is truly the epitome of a friend we all aspire to have. She consistently uplifts and supports her friends, offering a listening ear, guidance in problem-solving and genuine celebration during moments of joy.”
Settle’s friends provided initial momentum. “Within a day or two, we raised enough to pay off the school meal debt of three elementary schools that are closest to my house.”
Next, Settle started a GoFundMe that raised about $25,000. “We helped a lot of families.”
Settle continued to work as a lawyer full-time while raising her daughter with her husband. Still she was committed to supporting students.
“In Northern Virginia, people have so much opportunity, and the schools are amazing, but we can do better so kids in need can focus on learning and not feel hungry. Food is one of those very basic human needs,” she said. “Back then, they were still sending families to collections and still banning kids from going on field trips if they had school meal debt. There were all these negative consequences for the kid.”
Settle felt donating money was not enough. Better policies were needed.
In 2018, she contacted Virginia Del. Danica Roem, who is now a state Senator representing the 30th District, which covers parts of western Prince William.
“We had several meetings, and we spoke about the difficulties and our goals,” Settle said. “And they aligned. I was so glad that she was willing to take on my passion and make it her own. She and I worked together to write a ton of legislation.”
Roem saw it as an opportunity to lead with compassion. She couldn’t bear to see students being treated poorly.
“The biggest thing that she and I agreed that we wanted to focus on was eliminating school meal debt shaming,” Roem said. “Before we even get to universal free school meals … the first thing we wanted to eliminate was the idea you could single out and stigmatize a child, because that child wanted to eat food at school.”
And Roem was always impressed by Settle’s dedication.
“What stood out about Adelle was her earnestness and trying to solve a problem – making sure kids didn’t have school meal debt. She just wants to feed hungry kids,” she said.
In the meantime, Settle officially launched a nonprofit, aptly named Settle the Debt. It began attracting local and national media attention, and Settle even appeared on “Good Morning America.”
“I was completely blown away. It was incredibly exciting, nerve-wracking and terrifying because I’m a nervous public speaker when it comes to speaking in front of a lot of people on cameras,” she said.
The platform made school meal debt a national issue and mobilized people around the country.
Today, Settle can say she has made a difference. After many years of writing legislation and winning consensus, 14 school meal bills have been passed in Virginia. Settle’s legal knowledge and research skills played a key role, Roem said.
It’s now illegal in Virginia to tell a child they can’t participate in extracurricular activities, can’t walk for graduation, or can’t go on a field trip because they have meal debt. And laws in Virginia now ensure K-12 kids have access to full breakfast and lunch. There are no more alternative meals.
Moreover, the number of kids eligible for free school meals has increased significantly because of new legislation.
During the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government provided funds for every public school student to receive free meals.
“That federal funding ended and the schools went back to charging for school meals. At that time, it was tough; it increased the school debt,” Settle said.
Despite setbacks, today, multiple states have passed legislation to restore free school meals for all during the school year.
Settle would like Virginia to do the same.
“I’ve been doing this for seven years now, and I don’t plan to stop until every child in the state of Virginia gets universal school meals,” she said. “These things matter to people’s lives. Over the course of our lives, we should try and leave this world a little better than when we found it.”
For more information visit settlethedebt.org.
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