--- title: Cafeteria Worker Fired Over Hungry Student's Free Meal description: But now she's being offered her job back canonical: https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-24T13:18:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:55.775Z og:title: School Cafeteria Worker Fired Over Hungry Student's Free Meal Is Offered Her Job Back og:description: "In the spirit of the holidays," the school district said og:url: https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: School Cafeteria Worker Fired Over Hungry Student's Free Meal Is Offered Her Job Back twitter:description: "In the spirit of the holidays," the school district said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # School Cafeteria Worker Fired Over Hungry Student's Free Meal Is Offered Her Job Back > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0d0bf7fc-6f05-4b18-b9f1-ba043a7b6a44&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Here Is an Adorable Compilation of Kids Reacting to Opening Christmas Presents [Watch (HLS stream): Here Is an Adorable Compilation of Kids Reacting to Opening Christmas Presents](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bphe0Q3F.m3u8) (1:19)  _Published 2013-12-20. From jubilant exclamations — "Santa knowed what I wanted for Christmas!" — to earsplitting shrieks, here are some of our favorite reactions._ by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 24, 2015 1:18 PM UTC by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 24, 2015 1:18 PM UTC A school cafeteria worker [allegedly fired after she gave a hungry student a free lunch](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dalene-bowden-school-cafeteria-worker-fired-after-giving-hungry-student-n485181) has been offered her job back, the Idaho school district involved said. Dalene Bowden, a server at Irving Middle School in Pocatello, told [NBC affiliate KPVI](http://www.kpvi.com/content/news/regional/story/Local-Cafeteria-Worker-Fired-After-Giving-Free/3dItkxc7PEK3s1FAfzWCZw.cspx) in Idaho that she gave a hot meal to a 12-year-old girl with no lunch money who said she was hungry on Dec. 15. “I handed her the food and said, ‘Here, we’ll take care of it in a minute,”‘ Bowden told the station. She said she then offered to pay the $1.70 cost of the lunch. “I handed her the… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dalene-bowden-idaho-cafeteria-worker-fired-over-hungry-student-s-n485441?cid=par-time%5F20151224) ## Transcript >> It's a Snuggie. >> I love it. >> Okay. >> Santa knows what I wanted for Christmas. >> I know. >> Look up a little. >> Yeay. I wanted it. I wanted it. >> No way. >> It's the Fantastic Four. Oh my god. >> Thank you. >> Oh my god. >> Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. >> Oh my god. This is [ unk ] >> It's a toothbrush. >> Great. >> It's my toothpaste. >> Your what? >> It's my big boy's toothpaste. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Dad, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Grandma. >> Thank you, everyone for the wonderful presents. >> You're welcome, sweetie. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/"},"headline":"School Cafeteria Worker Fired Over Hungry Student's Free Meal Is Offered Her Job Back","datePublished":"2015-12-24T13:18:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:02:55.775Z","description":"\"In the spirit of the holidays,\" the school district said","url":"https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/","keywords":["Newsfeed","local"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/","name":"School Cafeteria Worker Fired Over Hungry Student's Free Meal Is Offered Her Job Back"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Here Is an Adorable Compilation of Kids Reacting to Opening Christmas Presents","description":"From jubilant exclamations — \"Santa knowed what I wanted for Christmas!\" — to earsplitting shrieks, here are some of our favorite reactions.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bphe0Q3F/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-20T15:53:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bphe0Q3F.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/","duration":"PT1M19S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4160953/idaho-cafeteria-worker-free-meal/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```