By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — An effort to eliminate the existing lunch debt at Warsaw Community Schools has picked up steam from local restaurateurs.
Tattoo artist and business owner Nathan Underneath originally planned to end the campaign to wipe out the debt by April 1, but has extended it after a handful of restaurants offered to assist with their own fundraising efforts.
The effort began in Underneath’s tattoo shop, Moving Pictures Tattoo Cinema, on Center Street with a collection jar.
“The whole thing started snowballing where companies were calling me, saying I’d like to get involved,” Underneath said.
Underneath said initial support from Panda Express — which offered free meal tickets in exchange for $20 donations — appeared to add credibility to the overall fundraiser and led other restaurants to step up.
Event details
On April 19, Underneath will be selling peanuts at Third Friday in downtown Warsaw with an attached coupon for a free appetizer from Texas Roadhouse which will host a dine and donate event on the following Monday with a percent of the sales going to the fund.
Also on Third Friday is a comedy show at Mad Anthony’s in downtown Warsaw.
Six comedians are scheduled to perform. Tickets are $20.
Amanda Sauter, who does standup under the name Amanda Hacker, came up with the idea after recently organizing a comedy show (and two others) for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kosciusko County.
The show starts at 9 p.m. Hacker said the timing of the event was planned to coincide with the tail end of First Friday in hopes of attracting some of the festival crowd.
“It kind of helps everybody,” Hacker said. “It helps a good cause and it gives stage time for people who are looking for an avenue to get up and perform.”
Papa Vino’s is also pleading to host a dine and donate day, but details have not yet been finalized.
Hacienda will host a dine and donate event on April 26 that will conclude the fundraiser.
The current deficit for the lunch fund is about $13,000.
Hacker said the lunch fund issue is close to her heart because she grew up in a household that could not afford school lunches.
“We gotta find a solution there to try to help so kids aren’t walking away accruing all this debt at school,” Hacker said.
Underneath said the fundraiser has reached about half of the goal and sounded confident about making it happen.
