Even in a community like Williamsburg, the needs of working families can be easy to miss. For Tim and Amy Harris, one of those – student lunch debt – was an issue they hadn’t fully understood until they came across it on Facebook.
“I was surprised to learn that such an issue even existed in our wealthy community.” Tim said. “And of course I was touched and grateful that one of our neighbors in Williamsburg had been paying this student debt off anonymously for years.”
“It turns out that the kids who are affected are not the ones on free lunch,” said Tim in an interview with WYDaily. “They’re on reduced lunch. These kids would end up in debt because they wouldn’t have enough money to get enough food to eat.”
Tim and Amy’s decision to act was rooted in their commitment to addressing food insecurity. Through their family business, La Tienda, they’ve supported local efforts for years, including FISH, Williamsburg House of Mercy, and more.
Retiring student lunch debt felt like a natural extension of that philanthropy, reinforcing something they value deeply: that every child has the food, dignity, and stability they need.
For help, they turned to the Community Foundation, where they’ve held a donor-advised fund since 2010.
“They connected our grant to the right person in the school system and the funds were transferred within days of our asking,” Tim said.
“I give thanks that our family business was in a position to be able to support other families in Williamsburg. You can’t get more local with that food relief effort, and it goes to support children, which is meaningful to us.”
Their story is also a good reminder that donor-advised funds can be used in ways people don’t always expect, including supporting needs within government agencies, like public schools , that fall outside the typical funding streams.