A cafeteria worker at a middle school in Idaho has been fired after giving a 12-year-old girl a free lunch. She did offer to pay for the lunch, but was still fired.
Delane Bowden was working at Irving Middle School and saw a student who said she was hungry, but didn’t have $1.70 to pay for lunch. So, she gave the girl a free lunch. The Idaho State Journal reports that the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District first placed her on leave last week, but then she received a letter telling her that she was fired.
“This is just breaking my heart,” Bowden told the State Journal. “And they couldn’t even bother to put my check in with the letter.”
Social media has come out in force to support Bowden. A Facebook page has over 3,800 likes and a petition is up to 41,800 signatures.
Bowden told the State Journal that she had been working in the district for three years and was never reprimanded for anything else before. She’s currently taking legal counsel to figure out what her next move should be.
“I know I screwed up, but what are you supposed to do when the kid tells you that they’re hungry and they don’t have any money,” she told the paper.
This is horrible!!!! This woman has a Conscience and was punished for it!!! This is the letter she received from the school district.
Posted by Give Dalene Bowden her job back on Saturday, December 19, 2015