AUSTIN, Texas — AISD has made a commitment to provide food for all of their students. They estimate they serve over 70,000 meals per day.

  • 14-year-old starts fundraiser for AISD lunch program
  • Has raised almost $3000 in one week
  • Started it for school project

“We know that hungry students can’t learn so we want to provide them the foundation so they can focus on their academics,” said Anneliese Tanner, AISD Executive Director of Food Service.

Since they don’t turn away students from a meal who may not be able to pay at the time, the district does have some outstanding balances. They estimate to have close to a $20,000 lunch debt. AISD does crowdfunding to help offset some of that debt. They are also getting help from a local teenager.

“I discovered a lot of kids couldn’t afford lunch,” said Ben Hofer. “I always thought you just eat lunch but you can be stressed about something like that and it has an impact on your day.”

Hofer is a 14-year-old, 8th grader at St. Andrew’s. For a class project he decided to set up a GoFundMe account* to help cover some of the lunch debt for a few Austin area schools.

“It’s been really great, I never expected to raise this much in a short amount of time,” said Hofer.

Hofer set his goal at $3,200 and in less than a week he’s almost at $3,000. If he exceeds his goal, he hopes to use that money to pay more of the lunch debt.

*This Gofundme.com site is not managed by Spectrum News. For more information on how the site works and the rules, visit gofundme.com/safety.