SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — In the Sioux Falls School District, so many parents are behind on their lunch payments, the amount has grown to more than a 100-thousand dollars.

Two Sioux Falls dads are stepping up to help wipe that debt clean.

Ben Forred, who owns Casual Campfire Supply Company, makes these little fire pucks that help start campfires.

But now he has a burning desire to ignite an entire community.

“At first I was shocked,” Forred said.

Forred says when he heard the district was going to stop handing out hot lunches to kids behind on their lunch payments, he wasn’t having it.

“I have three kids in elementary school right now and just hearing they have classmates who are not eating lunch just because they have a negative balance, it just blew my mind,” Forred said.

For the past two years, federal COVID funds have paid for school lunches, but getting parents back on board and paying has proven to be a challenge.

So Forred started a GoFundMe account and has enlisted the help of Steve Rosalez, a member of the Guardian of the Children, a non-profit bike organization that helps kids in various situations.

“We need to help our children, because this is the number one thing, the kids need it, they are our future, we just want to help out our kids,” Rosalez said.

They know they can’t do it alone, so they’re asking people to contribute to the fund.

“I think what we’d like to do is take care of it, settle it up as best as we can and then try to force some change and take care of this permanently,” Forred said.

“We are looking at saying ‘hey let’s hit up the state legislature and get changes made,’ so that our kids don’t have to worry about this in the future,” Rosalez said.

If you’d like to contribute to the GoFundMe account, click here.