OBSERVER Photo by Natasha Matteliano Pravin Patel donated $2,000 to the Fredonia School to cover unpaid lunch bills.

A Fredonia resident has decided to pay all outstanding lunch balances.

During this week’s Fredonia Board of Education meeting, it was announced that Pravin Patel has made a donation to the whole district.

In honor of his granddaughter Alina Patel-Chhabria’s first birthday, Patel decided to pay all of the outstanding cafeteria lunch balances for the school district as of Dec. 31, 2019. The donation totaled just over $2,000. The donation benefitted over 140 students and families who had outstanding lunch balances.

“I thank you for the district. Some of these lunch balances are from families who are not able to afford them,” said board President Brian Aldrich. “I know that when students aren’t hungry, they learn better. And that’s a benefit to our whole school system.”