Grandma Pat

A GoFundMe Studios Original Production

“When I read that I’ve given someone a smile, I just bloom inside.”

Patsy, otherwise known as “Grandma Pat,” is 85 years young. She grew up during the Great Depression and survived breast cancer as an adult. Yet none of that prepared her for what she’d become in her golden years: an Instagram star.

A few years ago, Patsy’s three adult granddaughters started filming her sweetest and silliest moments to share with the world. Strangers from all over tuned in to watch Patsy sing and dance without a care in the world and get their daily dose of uplifting advice:

“May your Monday be full of new possibilities. May your week be full of joy. May your month be full of care. And may your year be full of love towards yourself and others.”

But then, last December, Patsy’s beloved husband Al passed away.

Al had been Patsy’s biggest supporter for decades. He never let her leave the house without kissing her goodbye, and he always put a smile on her face. Rather than dwell on her loss, Patsy decided to honor Al’s kind and generous spirit in a fitting way.

So on Random Acts of Kindness Day in February, Patsy started a GoFundMe in Al’s memory to erase the lunch debt of a local school.

Thanks to Seattle dad Jeff Lew, who started a GoFundMe to eliminate school lunch debt in his child’s school district, “lunch debt” and “lunch shaming” have been hot topics in the news.

Many people have been surprised to learn that 76% of U.S. schools have lunch debt and “lunch shame” students by singling them out with hand stamps or cold cheese sandwiches. Some schools won’t even let graduates collect their diplomas if they have unpaid lunch debt.

To Patsy, lunch debt and shaming hit very close to home.

“When I was a child, it was during the Depression,” she says. “I was born in ’32, and when I started going to school, the government provided a graham cracker and a carton of milk. And that was kind of like our breakfast. But we were separated from the rest of the group, so it made us feel different.”

“These kids that I’m trying to help… I can relate to them, and I can empathize with them. It’s just my way of giving back what’s been given to me.”

To date, Patsy’s GoFundMe has raised over $2,000 to pay off the lunch debt of Grant Elementary, a local school in her area. She hopes to raise a total of $11,000—enough to pay off the school’s entire lunch debt and help the kids start school next year with a blank slate and full bellies.

Learn how you can support Grandma Pat’s lunch debt GoFundMe.

Special thanks to Grandma Pat and her granddaughters.