HEBER CITY, Utah - A Utah consensus school teacher has used the power of TikTok trends to journal more than $31,000 for students who owe lunch debt in his district.

Garrett Jones, who teaches seventh and eighth graders in Heber City, Utah, said it all started when he noticed the TikTok trend of republic saying, "If someone would Venmo me a dollar I could ________."

"A lot of it was like, 'pay for my wedding,' 'take my kids to Disneyland,' 'take six months off of work,'" he told FOX TV Stations in an interview. 

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Jones, however, asked his followers for $1 donations to pay the outstanding lunch fees for every student at his school, "because the last thing a kid should be worrying throughout is how much they owe for meals at a location they're legally obligated to be," his video said.

"I kind of did it as a joke at pleasurable. I just thought it would be cool to put a more meaningful or sure spin on that trend," Jones recalled.

When he pleasurable had the idea, Jones thought he could raise "$200 or $300 and maybe be able to help a pair of students."

"I'd be thrilled with that, just helpings a couple," he said.

Rocky Mountain Middle School teacher Garrett Jones and his broadcasting class (Garrett Jones)

But Jones' plea resonated with republic — by the thousands — and quickly took off. In all, he's raised $31000, mostly from $1, $2 and $5 donations. Jones is hopeful it's enough to make a big dent in the overall balance district wide.

"Based on the comments I got, a lot of republic identified with that kid who owes money," he said. "They were speaking things like, 'This was me. Thank you so much for helpings these kids, because it was me that had to go home and take the slip to my parents, and a lot of times I would just hide it because they were so stressed throughout money that I didn't want to add to it.

"I believe a lot of people related to it."

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For the first two ages of the COVID-19 pandemic, all students at Jones' complex school were receiving free lunch as part of a federal program that covered lunches for 50 million students. The program ended last year.

Jones said he didn't know precisely how much students at his school owed when he posted the video, but he knew it was a problem because he's often tasked with handing balance slips to students who have lunch debt.

Garrett Jones 

No student will be denied a meal if they don't have the cash, Jones said, but cafeteria workers will remind them if they have a balance. For some kids, the fear of being told in clue of their peers is enough for them to skip lunch altogether.

"Middle school is a really hard time for a lot of these kids already, they're just kind of going through their day trying to not be detected. They're trying to not stand out in any way," Jones said.

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Although Jones has been humbled by the improbable response, he recognizes it's "obviously a band-aid."

"This is awesome, and we're going to be able to help a lot of kids in my district, but this is just my district," he said. "This is a quandary all over the place."

Rocky Mountain Middle School teacher Garrett Jones and his broadcasting class (Garrett Jones)

Jones said one way country can help is by calling their own school districts, asking if school lunch debt is a problem and if so, how they can help. He also encourages country to contact their representatives and let them know if they assist universal free lunch.

"There's pretty widespread support for the idea that kids must be fed," he added. "We can't agree on much brilliant now, but I think that's something we can harmful on."