This teacher raised $100K to keep students from going hungry over winter break

A North Carolina teacher has made it her mission to ensure her students get free lunches even when they're not in school. 

Since 2015, Turquoise LeJeune Parker, a teacher at Lakewood Elementary School in Durham, N.C., has taken it upon herself to help raise money to feed students whose families do not have enough food during school breaks.

In December, she raised over $100,000 US ($126,741 Cdn) and sent over 520 bags of groceries home with students from 12 schools. She's now working to repeat that feat before spring break next month. 

"I'm a very optimistic person," she told As It Happens host Carol Off.  "I would not be surprised if we reach more children than we did in the fall."

While she says she's happy about the community coming together to help kids in need, Parker says the underbelly of this story — hunger — is heartbreaking.

"We're not talking about a brand new phone," she said. "We're not talking about a brand new pair of shoes. We're talking about food, a basic thing."

Started with a student confession

It all started in 2015 when Parker says a family confided to her they did not have enough food to last the winter holiday break.

Parker and her husband began to realize that other families were also probably in need. She says the majority of her students rely on the free or low-cost lunches that the school provides every day.

So she decided to take matters into her own hands, and the annual fundraising for food campaign began. 

"I think I sent a text message to everybody in my phone and asked them if they could donate anything to make sure that I could send a bag of groceries to almost every family in my class," she said. "And the rest is history."

The fundraiser was small at first, but grew beyond Parker's aspirations. 

"I still cannot believe it. I can't because of where this started from," she said.  "It's so amazing to me how this has grown."

A community effort

One of the people who has been there from the beginning is Greg Doucette. He is in charge of the online fundraising and money gathering, and has seen firsthand the impact and change this food brings to families' lives. 

"Taking some of that pressure off families, making sure that they've got their kids fed, you know, it helps make it easier for those kids to do well when they come back to school and limit some of the stress that the parents have trying to figure out how we're going to have groceries on the table," Doucette said.

Parker says she loves her students and makes sure she tells them that every day. She says she refers to the students as "professors" in order to instill confidence in them and show them how smart they are.

She says the success of the campaign is due to the community's collective efforts.

"Every year, I'm amazed, and I guess giddy would be the word, because it feels good every year that we're packing the bags and delivering them. The energy and the spirit of the people who are volunteering is just, it's electric."

Jermaine Porter, the interim principal of Lakewood Elementary, says the spin-off effect of Parker's fundraising has everyone coming together.

"It's an effort she does with her network of people, other principals from other schools come and help pack the groceries," he said.

It is a team effort that Parker hopes to continue during spring break and school breaks moving forward.

"There are a lot of hands and hearts and minds that are part of this. I am so grateful for all the people," she said. "The generosity just overflows."

Written by Ben Basran. Interview with Turquoise LeJeune Parker produced by Chris Trowbridge.