Kindergartener pays lunch debt for 123 students by selling cocoa, cookies

In the holiday spirit, one little girl decided to sell treats to help her peers in need.

Katelynn Hardee, a kindergarten student at Breeze Hill Elementary School in California, decided to lend a hand after overhearing a student’s mom talking about having a hard time paying for an after-school program.

Five-year-old Katelynn wanted to know more about the situation.

“She’s very inquisitive,” mom Karina Hardee told ABC 7.

“She started asking me a bunch of questions, and I tried to answer as best as I could without too much for a five-year-old and just explained to her that some people aren’t as fortunate as us.”

At the time, the school’s lunch balances reached a total of US$616.85, according to Good Morning America.

Instead of wondering what could be done to help, Katelynn decided to take matters into her own hands.

In a heartwarming initiative now referred to as #KikisKindnessProject, she set up a cookie and hot cocoa stand outside her Vista home on Dec. 8, aiming to raise enough money to pay down some of her classmates’ lunch balances.

Hardee took to Facebook to share an adorable photo of her daughter, grinning from ear-to-ear from behind her stand.

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She told the publication that Katelynn sat at her stand for three hours and sold out completely of cocoa and cookies, even before knowing if her school accepted donations.

“I just left a note saying my daughter held a hot cocoa fundraiser over the weekend and would love to donate the money to any of the negative accounts,” Hardee explained to ABC 7.

The money raised ended up paying off the lunch balances of 123 students, and Katelynn was honoured with an award at her school.

“I started crying,” Teresa Sharp, the school cafeteria’s manager, told KGTV in San Diego.

“I couldn’t believe that a five-year-old could think of doing something like that.”

The internet has clearly been moved by the little girl’s big heart.

One Facebook user took to the event’s comment section to offer her expertise: “I just graduated pastry school and I’d love to help,” they wrote.

The Breeze Hill Elementary School PTA group shared a flyer for the fundraiser, and one person commented: “Katelynn gives me hope and lately I’ve been very short on hope.”

“Please tell her she is an amazing little girl,” another commented. “She is my hero.”

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Katelynn’s generosity didn’t end there.

Katelynn will be hosting another treat-filled fundraiser on Dec. 21, this time at her school, according to a Facebook event created by Kiki’s Kindness Project.

“Let’s help Katelynn make sure that other students ‘can have a snack and lunch,'” the event reads. “‘If they don’t their tummies grumble.'”

The school’s principal, Lori Higley, is beyond proud of her student.

“Everybody is just so proud and happy and other students are already talking about ways they can also make a difference,” she told CNN.

“It goes to show that even one small, kind act from a five-year-old can mean the difference for someone in their life.”

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The project is also accepting donations to be put towards school lunches on their Fundly page.

They hope to cover the remaining 1,206 school lunch balances in the district.

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meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca