I hadn’t seen any mention of this on DKos yet, and I felt this deserves recognition- Philando Castile’s Mom Donates $8,000 to Settle Lunch Debt Preventing HS Seniors from Graduating:
Three years after beloved cafeteria supervisor, Philando Castile, was killed by a police officer, his mother is keeping his legacy alive by continuing the work he cared about.
Last Thursday Valerie Castile presented administrators at Robbinsdale Cooper High School with a check for $8,000 from the Philando Castile Relief Foundation. The donation settles the debt of all senior students whose ability to graduate was jeopardized due to a lunch money balance. Thanks to the Castile family, the path has been cleared for the students to graduate worry-free.
“This is something that Philando held near and dear to his heart,” Valerie Castile told CBS Minnesota.” She continued “He’d pay for children’s lunch meals out of his own pocket instead of letting a child go hungry that day he would pay it himself.”
Some background: Philando Castile was the cafeteria supervisor at the J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was adored by the students. Said a teacher who worked at the school,
He just loved the kids, and he always made sure that they had what they needed. He knew their names, he knew what they liked, he knew who had allergies. And they loved him.
And the following are the recollections of a parent of two students at the school:
Rebecca Penfold Murray, who has two 5-year-old children at J.J. Hill, said Castile seemed to know every student’s name. He knew them, too, carrying on conversations about their classrooms and their interests as they made their way through the cafeteria line each day.
…
She said that one of her children has a sensory processing disorder that makes it hard for him to make eye contact and show affection. But with Castile? Her child would fist-bump him, she said, and hug his legs. Her son felt safe with Castile, she said.
Tragically however, the police officer who shot and killed this kind, gentle, 32 year old man, did not feel so safe around him… On July 6, 2016, Castile was driving (with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her 4 year old daughter as passengers in the car) when he was pulled over by Officer Jeronimo Yanez. According to Ms. Reynolds,
“He tells us to put our hands in the air, we have our hands in the air,” she said. “At the time as our hands is in the air, he asked for license and registration,” which Mr. Castile carried in a wallet in his back pocket.
As he is reaching for his back pocket wallet, to produce his license and registration, “he lets the officer know, ‘Officer, I have a firearm on me,’ ” she said. “I began to yell, ‘But he’s licensed to carry.’ After that, he began to take off shots — bah, bah, bah, bah, ‘Don’t move! Don’t move!’ But how can you not move when you’re asking for license and registration? It’s either you want my hands in the air or you want my identification.”
The payment of the high school seniors’ lunch debts is a most fitting, beautiful tribute to such a dear, beautiful man. R.I.P., Philando…