Mystery donor pays off students' lunch debts

PORT CLINTON - Though “Random Acts of Kindness Week” was in February, its impact is still being felt at Port Clinton City Schools.

An anonymous donor picked that week to pay off the school lunch debts of every Port Clinton student, from kindergarten to 12th grade.

According to school officials, the donation was more than $500, helping to pay off the lunch debts of 158 students.

While the donor wishes to remain anonymous, the gesture was made in memory of the person’s favorite retired “lunch lady,” Ruth Vogt, who died in late January.

Vogt worked at the Port Clinton High School cafeteria for 20 years before retiring in 1998.

Her daughter, Martha Vogt Snyder, a teacher at Bataan Memorial Elementary School, said that whenever her mother was working the cash register, she would take spare change out of her own pocket to help out any kids who came up short for lunch.

“She was a very kind and generous soul,” Snyder said.

The donation in her memory, Snyder said, was "an incredible act of kindness and a wonderful gesture for our mom.”

The big donation to the school was a surprise to the whole Vogt family, Snyder said, as the identity of the donor is unknown to them as well.

“We don’t know who this donor is, but whoever thought of this kind gift really knew our mother well,” she said. “We want them to know that our mom is smiling down on them.”

Whether it was a personal friend of Ruth Vogt or just a former student on whom she left a positive impression, the Vogt family offered thanks to the donor for what was described as a “beautifully fitting tribute” to her.

“They are a wonderful family," Superintendent Pat Adkins said. “I think it was a great way to recognize her. Certainly, I think it took a lot of our community members by surprise, as it did us.”

Although the act was officially made during Random Acts of Kindness Week in February, the numbers are still being crunched so that the donation is distributed across each of the unpaid account balances.

The mystery donor simply made a call to the school district, asked about unpaid lunch balances, and offered to pay for them — all of them.

Adkins said the district has never had anyone make a donation of that kind before.

“It was a really cool thing,” he said. “It was a neat way to do it.”

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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