Avery Harrison – Life By Design, Legacy By Choice

Avery and Peebles Harrison live in Duck, NC, where they are raising their three children and enjoying a remarkable life in a place they’ve called home since 1995. “We didn’t think we’d stay forever,” Avery laughed. The Outer Banks’ natural beauty, its scores of giving, friendly people, and the professional opportunities captured their attention, though; and our community has benefited by their presence.

The Harrisons left Richmond as a young couple in their late twenties, trading in city life for a cottage in South Nags Head, salt air, a slower pace, and the sound of the sea nearby.  Peebles formed a law practice with friend Dennis Rose, building what is now Rose, Harrison, Gilreath and Powers. Avery created “Avery Little Detail,” a wedding planning business that she managed from 1998 to 2006. “Things were pretty low-key those first few winters,” she recalled. “There were lots of trips to Richmond for fun. The wedding planning work helped keep me busy during the off-season.”

Avery and Peebles have been actively giving back through leadership roles with local nonprofit groups.  Avery, who “loves seeing people apply their interests and passions as volunteers,” gravitated to the arts, and has worked on the boards of directors of both Dare County Arts Council and OBX Patrons of the Arts. Peebles has served on several boards, including the Outer Banks YMCA, Outer Banks Hospital, and the Chamber of Commerce.

Avery credits Sue Woolard and Ray White for involving her in Community Foundation board service in 2011. During her four years on the board, she served a term as Secretary and also volunteered on the Scholarship Committee. “I got to see first-hand how much the Scholarship Program helps kids, many of whom have the smarts and ability, but not the necessarily the funds.”

At the same time, Avery made a meaningful, Legacy gift to the Outer Banks, by naming the Community Foundation in her will. Avery’s legacy gift will go toward the Community Fund, to support the community’s most pressing needs and greatest opportunities that present themselves in far off, future years.

As a way to thank, recognize, and celebrate donors who contribute a gift by bequest to the Outer Banks Community Foundation, the board of directors created the David Stick Legacy Society. Anyone can join this group, simply by naming the Community Foundation in their will and notifying us. A donor can use his or her legacy gift to create a new fund to benefit the Outer Banks, following whatever charitable interest the donor names. Or, a legacy gift may be directed toward any of the hundreds of existing funds the Community Foundation manages, including the Community Fund, the Community Foundation’s largest and broadest grant-making fund.

Bequests and planned gifts, invested as endowments, have been sustaining the Outer Banks since the Community Foundation began in 1982, providing reliable, continuous funding that support grants and scholarships, even when other sources of support dry up. Legacy gifts like Avery’s will be supporting the Outer Banks for many generations to come.

What are Avery’s philanthropic passions? “I’d love to see more facilities and activities focused on local kids and families,” she said. “Kids need places to go and things to do during the off-season.” Avery has another passion: reading. You might find her among the aisles of books at Downtown Books in Manteo, where she works part-time, fueling her literary creative fire.

As the Outer Banks grows, the Community Foundation will be here, helping generous, compassionate people like Avery give back to a place they love. Her values will live on in future support for the causes she cares about. We will be able to make grants and scholarships decades from now, thanks to our founders, our supporters, our donors and our fund establishers; including many community members, who, like Avery, have made a future gift by bequest, to benefit their beloved Outer Banks.

If you would like to know more about gifts by bequest, the David Stick Legacy Society, and other forms of giving, please contact us at 252-261-8839 or info@obcf.org. We’d be delighted to work with you.