“We’ve already had some parents call, thanking us so much and thanking the Thirsty Beaver and the Aggie Foundation,” said Nicole Welstad, principal of TGU Granville.

The donation came from the Aggie Foundation and Dustin Frounfelter, owner of the Thirsty Beaver in Granville. Frounfelter partnered up with the Aggie Foundation to award TGU Granville School $39,000 to cover an academic year’s worth of lunches.

“By partnering with the Aggie Foundation, our hope was that it would lead to something big like this, something to really help the community. We’re so glad we could finally make it happen,” Frounfelter said in a news release from the Aggie Foundation.

“When Dustin Frounfelter came in to say that he met with the Aggie Foundation board and told us, I literally got tears in my eyes,” Welstad said.

From left are Laura Graham, assistant head chef, Deanna Holen, head chef, and Nicole Welstad, principal of TGU Granville School.

Lunch for kindergarten through sixth grade at TGU Granville costs $2.75 per child. For seventh through 12th grade, lunch costs $3.25.

“We have 174 days with 125 kids being able to receive free lunch. It’s helping our parents out vastly,” Welstad said. “We had one mom call in tears because she has three children that go to our school and it was a big expense for her and her husband to feed the kids on a regular basis here.”

To illustrate, if a family has three high school age students, lunch costs would add up to $9.75 per day total, which equals to $48.75 weekly, $195 monthly and nearly $2,000 in a given academic school year.

“I also think we’re getting more kids to eat,” said Deanna Holen, head chef at TGU Granville.

“Last year we had more kids bringing their own lunch because they couldn’t afford school lunch. Now that it’s free they’re eating more,” added Laura Graham, assistant head chef at TGU Granville.

The lunches at the school are required to provide whole grains, a protein, fruit, vegetable and milk for serving, creating a well-rounded nutritious meal for children and youth.

“Our lunches here are all homemade, all delicious. When I talk about the yummiest school lunches I’ve ever had in 24 years, it is this school. It’s quality ingredients and a lot of heart and soul put into everything,” Welstad said.

The lunch staff works hard to provide students with healthy, filling meals and are happy the students will be able to eat without their families worrying.

“It’s great. We really appreciate it because it helps with all the families,” Holen said. “And it’s nice to see local money stay local.”

Angie Schwan is a custodian at TGU Granville and a bit of an honorary lunch staff member as well. Schwan is the one who inputs all of the lunch numbers during school lunch every day.

Schwan is also one of the staff members who helped compile all of the necessary information for Erik Sveet, superintendent of the school, so Sveet could present the information to Frounfelter and the Aggie Foundation.

Pam Tonnessen, secretary at TGU Granville, also played a large role in compiling the necessary information for the Thirsty Beaver and the Aggie Foundation.

Tonnessen is also the one who receives the lunch paperwork from Holen and Graham and helps determine how many families are behind on lunch payments on a daily basis.

Tonnessen’s duties this year, however, will look a bit different in the best way.

“Now that we’ve received the donation, Mrs. Tonnessen doesn’t have to send out letters to get money from parents that aren’t able to pay the bills usually,” Welstad said.

The donation covers one lunch per day per each student. The donation does not cover breakfast or seconds at lunch.

“By covering the lunches for Granville students this year, we’re ensuring kids have the energy to learn and grow while showing the community the power of simple, caring actions,” said Aggie Foundation Board President Terry Peterson, in a news release.

“We’re just so grateful and appreciative of the board members of the Aggie Foundation, Dustin Fraunfelter of the Thirsty Beaver, for helping everyone. It has brought joy and happiness to all of us,” Welstad said.