SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield woman has raised thousands of dollars to pay off student lunch debts after a woman in her area sought help on a neighborhood app.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Molly McKinney says that when the woman asked on the app if anyone knew of any agencies offering help to pay off her children's $60 lunch debt, she went ahead and paid the bill herself. She also found out that other people owed hundreds of dollars.

She started a Facebook page with a Paypal account to pay off debt from around the district. As of Monday, she'd raised around $6,000. Local businesses have also chipped in.

McKinney's effort is part of an area trend of charities, former students and athletes paying off delinquent debts for school meals. And it comes as school districts across the country encounter the same problem.

In the 2017-18 school year, 75 percent of districts reported their program had unpaid student meal debt, totaling more than $10.9 million nationwide, according to the national School Nutrition Association.