Ilene Orgaz, 16, said she knows what it’s like to be embarrassed for not having enough money to pay for her school lunch.
Orgaz, today an 11th grader at KIIP Denver Collegiate High School, attended Berendo Middle School in Los Angeles in June 2016.
She said she was in line for lunch when she was told she couldn’t receive it that day because her account was overdue.
"They kept giving me regular school lunches until my balance was way over," she said. "They told me that I had to leave the plate there in front of a bunch of kids that were behind me."
"I was really embarrassed and wanted to cry," she added.
Orgaz said she didn't step foot in the lunchroom for the rest of the year.
"So what I would do is go to the bathroom and wait until lunch was over, and I would just hide there," she said.
Orgaz said she heard about a bill in Colorado that would give free lunches to K-8 students from low-income families. Right now, the state only offers free lunches to elementary school students.
Orgaz testified in favor of SB 18-013 to expand the child nutrition school lunch protection act, which is sponsored by Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City. Senators Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, and Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, are also bill sponsors.
Both the Colorado House and Senate passed the bill. It's now on Gov. Hickenlooper's desk to be signed.
Schools across the nation hand out 20 million free lunches each day, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
