New Utah license plate will help pay off school lunch debt

Annual contributions from the “Feed Utah Kids” plate will support the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah drivers can now help pay down school lunch debt each time they renew their vehicle registration through a new specialty license plate benefiting students across the state.

The Utah Division of Motor Vehicles made the blue “Feed Utah Kids” license plate available on Oct. 6, according to the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation. Each plate generates a $30 annual contribution to the nonprofit, which uses the money to pay outstanding meal debt at Utah schools.

The launch comes as schools mark National School Lunch Week, Oct. 12-16.

“We all renew our registration every year, and we pay it on autopilot,” said DJ Bracken, founder and executive director of the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation. “Now that same renewal helps kids. Set it up once, forget it, and it helps every year.”

A new plate costs $53.75, according to the foundation. Of that amount, $30 goes toward school lunch debt, while the remaining $23.75 covers plate, shipping, and registration-related fees. The foundation collects another $30 contribution with each annual renewal.

The foundation said Utah schools carried about $3.8 million in lunch debt last year. Its publicly available tracker currently lists nearly $3.5 million in debt among 695 schools across 23 districts, although the database does not include every school or district in the state.

Bracken founded the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation in 2024 after learning Utah schools were carrying millions of dollars in unpaid meal balances. He began by paying off an $835 balance at Bluffdale Elementary in the Jordan School District and later formed the nonprofit to continue clearing debt school by school.

The organization is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit and says it has since paid off meal debt at dozens of Utah schools.

The foundation has also supported changes to state school meal policy. Utah lawmakers passed HB 100 in 2025, which provides no-cost school lunches to K-12 students who qualify for reduced-price meals and prohibits schools from stigmatizing students who cannot afford meals. Legislative materials estimated the program would provide no-cost lunches to about 40,000 Utah children.

More than 500 Utahns signed up for the specialty plate before its release, meeting the threshold needed for the plate to move forward.

Drivers interested in ordering one can start at the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation’s website, which links to the DMV ordering process. Drivers will need information from their current vehicle registration, including the registered owner’s last name, ZIP code, last four digits of the vehicle identification number, and current plate number.

The plate is available for cars, trucks, and trailers and is listed by the DMV as “Utah Lunch Debt Relief,” according to the foundation.

More information is available at utldr.org/plate.