Eighth-grader launches campaign to pay off school lunch debt

Eighth-grader Ben Hofer doesn’t think any kid deserves to go hungry at lunchtime. When he learned that about 5,000 Austin school kids carry a school lunch debt, he didn’t think it was very fair. So he started a fundraising campaign to raise $18,000 to pay off all of the school lunch debt at Austin ISD’s 129 schools. He calls the project LunchCounts! and to date, he’s raised more than $10,000 with the GoFundMe campaign he launched on April 21. This Thursday, May 23, at 2 p.m. Ben will present the district with a check at a ceremony at Blazier Elementary School, 8601 Vertex Blvd. The 14-year-old says that if he reaches his fundraising goal this year, he will make Lunch Counts! an annual fundraiser.