Scrooge might be alive and living in Idaho. Dalene Bowden, who works for Irving Middle School in Idaho, was fired when a 12-year-old girl told her she was hungry but didn't have any money. Bowden gave the girl a free hot meal valued at $1.70. Bowden says she offered to pay for the lunch, but her supervisor refused the money.

The Idaho State Journal reports she then received a letter of termination that accused her of "theft of school district property and inaccurate transactions when ordering, receiving and serving food."Bowden says, "I know I screwed up, but what are you supposed to do when the kid tells you that they're hungry and they don't have any money?" Bowden admitted she was once warned about giving a student a free cookie but said, "This is just breaking my heart."

Bowden says, "I know I screwed up, but what are you supposed to do when the kid tells you that they're hungry and they don't have any money?" She says she was once warned about giving a student a free cookie but said, "This is just breaking my heart."

Wednesday night the school issued a press release that stated "in the spirit of the holidays," it has extended "an opportunity for Bowden to return to employment." The release suggested the termination wasn't specifically because of the free meal, but it cites state law as barring it from "commenting on the specifics regarding personnel matters."

A petition asking the district to rehire Bowden had some 78,000 supporters as of Thursday morning. Bowden says she'll have to carefully consider the offer. "I'm afraid that they would just make my life miserable and then try to set me up, or get rid of me some other way." She's worked for the district for three years.

[VIA USA Today]

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