Have your day at the Capitol

Today is CASA Day at the Capitol, and here’s why this is important.

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is taking a strong stand to stop budget cuts proposed for Child Protective Services, the agency charged with protecting children and caring for those in the Texas child welfare system and advocating for full funding for CASA.

Hundreds of CASA volunteers from across the state of Texas will gather at the Capitol to dedicate a memorial in honor of the 227 children who die from abuse and neglect each year in Texas. For more than 30 years, CASA has been speaking up for abused and neglected children in the Texas foster care system, often helping children who are in life-or-death situations. CASA programs recruit and train committed volunteers to help guide children through the foster care system and into safe and permanent home.

In our current issue, we have a story about Linda, a CASA volunteer who was assigned to Tim when he was just three years old. Linda has stayed by Tim (in photo, left) his whole life, protecting him from getting lost in the system and helping him become the productive and capable human being he is today.

We also have a story advising Austin nonprofits to step up to the Legislature and speak up for the children and people they represent.

There will be many more of these “Days at the Capitol” during this session. You don’t have to attend them to support the cause.

Send a letter or email today to your representative and let them know why they should work harder to keep these vital services intact. Just go to Texas Tribune to find your representative. Speak up for Austin this session.

Easy way to help an Austin kid go to college

College tuition varies—from $7,000 per year at a public, four-year college to $27,000 per year at a private four-year college—but no matter what type of college you choose, that amount adds up quickly. For many Austin students, it’s completely unaffordable.

Imagine working hard enough to be accepted for college only to realize you can’t actually afford college. This doesn’t have to happen. You can help!

Volunteers are needed to help families complete financial aid applications at Financial Aid Saturdays, here in Austin.

Volunteers at Financial Aid Saturday events provide personal assistance with filling out the FAFSA. Students and families can also bring other financial aid applications they need help with, including the Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) and scholarship applications. It is our mission to help students secure the financial aid they need to go to college.

Events take place Saturdays (Feb 5, 12, 19, 26, March 5, 26) from 8:30 am – 12:30 p.m. at schools across Austin. They could sure use your help.

Just think: You could be the final push an Austin kid needs toward his college degree. Wow.

LEARN MORE HERE

SAT DEC 11: Because toys make children happy, people

Look at these photos. Just look.

Did I tell you about the time I got the Barbie Dream House? It was amazing. I adore(d) Barbies, and getting that Dream House is one of my favorite memories — never mind that my grandmother actually pulled it out of a trash can to give to me.

I don’t mean to get sappy on you, because for me that’s still a happy memory. There’s no other way I would have ever had the Barbie Dream House; it just wasn’t in the budget for my family, you know? The point is, toys make a difference to kids. And YOU can help make that difference to kids this Saturday.

This Saturday is the 13th Annual River City Youth Foundation “Merry Memories” holiday event in Dove Springs, a community just southeast of Austin. More than 95% of the children living in Dove Springs receive federally subsidized lunch. (So in other words, ALL of them.) If they can’t afford lunch, what kind of Christmas do you think they’re going to have?

Here’s how you can help:

DONATE TOYS

VOLUNTEER TO SORT TOYS

Merry Memories

13th Annual Toy Give-Away

WHERE

Dove Springs Recreation Center
5801 Ainez Dr, Austin, TX 78744

WHEN

Sorting of toys starting at 9 a.m. Event runs from 12-3 PM

Individuals and groups welcome!

To donate or volunteer contact
Oné Musel-Gilley (pronounced onay)
(512) 576-0219
PR@rivercityyouth.org
or Mona Gonzalez at (512) 633-9708

Free Thanksgiving Meals in Central Texas, from Food Bank

Many of us are making do with less this year. Some of us less than others.

I’ve learned that we get a wide range of people who come across this blog, so we can’t just post “how to help” content without also listing “how to get help” as well.

So I’ve divided this special Thanksgiving post into three categories. Why Help, How to Help, and How to Get Help. Here’s hoping you’re in the middle.

WHY HELP

This one’s easy. The Capital Area Food Bank has created this amazing site called Hunger is Unacceptable. Consider these facts from the site… then think about you’re going to spend your Thanksgiving.

• 1 in 5 people Austin food bank serves experience the physical pain of hunger.
• 41% of Austin food bank clients are children.
• Almost half of Austin food bank clients have at least one working adult at home.

HOW TO HELP

The good news is, this one is hard. Nonprofits tell me that volunteers spots for Thanksgiving meal events fill up by mid-October, so if you haven’t signed up yet, you’re probably too late.

But, of course, there’s a very simple way to redeem your tardiness. Donate. Here. Done. Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

HOW TO GET HELP

Here is a list created by the Capital Area Food Bank of places where anyone can get a free Thanksgiving Meal in and around Austin. Many of these places offer clothing and other items besides food.

11/18/2010 Thursday

Travis County Health and Human Services, NW Rural Community Center
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
(512) 267-3245
18649 FM1431 Ste 6A Jonestown Austin, TX 78645
Open to the Public – Free

City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Montopolis Recreation Center
6:00 p.m.
(512) 385-5931
1200 Montopolis Dr. Austin, TX 78741
Open to the Public – Free

City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Givens Recreation Center
7:00 p.m.
(512) 928-1982
3811 E. 12th St. Austin, TX 78721
Open to the Public – Free

11/19/2010 Friday

Travis County Health and Human Services, EAST RURAL COMMUNITY CENTER
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
(512) 272-5561 / 278-0414
600 W. Carrie Manor St. Manor Austin, TX 78653
Primarily for Precinct 1 – No one turned away

Southside Community Center
6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
(512) 392-6694
518 S. Guadalupe St. San Marcos, TX 78666
Open to the Public – Free

11/20/2010 Saturday

Rosewood-Zaragosa Neighborhood Center (sponsored by Mt. Carmel Grand Lodge)
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
(512) 972-6740
2808 Webberville Rd. Austin, TX 78702
Open to the Public – Free

City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, CANTU/PAN AM RECREATION CENTER
11:00 a.m. –2:00 p.m.
(512) 476-9193
2100 E. 3rd Austin, TX 78702
Open to the Public – Free

Helping Hands Center
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
(512) 472-2298
1179 San Bernard St. Austin, TX 78702
Open to the Public – Free. Meal at Olivet Baptist Church

Shoreline Christian Center at East Campus
12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
(512) 983-1048
East 6th and San Marcos St Austin, TX 78702
Open to the Public – Free. Distribution of 1000 sleeping bags, backpacks and socks

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
5:00 p.m.
(512) 251-0698
14311 Wells Port Dr. Austin, TX 78728
Open to the Public – Free

11/21/2010 Sunday

Austin Area Interreligious Ministries (AAIM) at University Baptist Church
Meal follows 3:30 p.m. Service
2130 Guadalupe Austin, TX 78705
Pot Luck served after the service -not a meal

11/22/2010 Monday

Mobile Loaves & Fishes at First Baptist Church
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
(512) 328-7299
First Baptist Church 901 Trinity St. Austin, TX 78701
Open to the Public – Free

City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Virginia L. Brown Recreation Center
6:00 p.m.
(512) 974-7865
7500 Blessing Ave. Austin TX 78752
Open to the Public – Free

St. John Community Center
5:59 p.m. – Food Gone
(512) 972-5159
7500 Blessing Ave. Austin, TX 78752
Open to the Public – Free

11/23/2010 Tuesday

United Way / HEB Feast of Caring at Palmer Events Center
4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
(512) 421-1000-HEB Public Affairs
900 Barton Springs Rd Austin, TX 78704
Open to the Public – Free

City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Dove Springs Recreation Center
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
(512) 447-5875
5801 Ainez Dr. AustinTX78744
Open to the Public – Free

11/24/2010 Wednesday

City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Parque Zaragosa Recreation Center
9:00 a.m. Service Project/ Lunch to follow
(512) 472-7142
2608 Gonzales St. Austin, TX 78702
Open to the Public – Free. For teens only

Baptist Community Center
1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
(512) 472-7592
2000 E. 2nd St. Austin, TX 78702
Open to the Public – Free

11/25/2010 Thursday

North Austin Christian Church
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
(512) 836-3282
1734 Rutland Dr. Austin, TX 78758
No one turned away – primarily for community around the church.

St. Louis Catholic Church
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
(512) 454-0384
Wozniak Hall 7601 Burnet Rd Austin, TX 78757
Open to the Public – Free

Bethany United Methodist Church
11:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
(512) 258.6017
10010 Anderson Mill Rd. Austin, TX 78750
Open to the Public – Free

St. Martin’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Noon – 2:00 p.m.
(512) 476-6757
605 W. 15th St. Austin, TX 78701
Open to the Public – Free

The Salvation Army Social Service Center
Noon – 5:00 p.m.
(512) 476-1111
501 E. 8th St. Austin, TX 78701
Open to the Public – Free

Ministry of Challenge
Noon – 3:00 p.m.
(512) 370-3960
1500 E. 12th Austin, TX 78702
Open to the Public – Free

Santa Cruz Catholic Church, Buda
Noon
(512) 415-4012
1100 Main St. Buda, TX 78610
Must RSVP

St. William’s Catholic Church
Noon – 2:00 p.m.
(512) 255-4473
620 Round Rock West Dr. 78681 Round Rock, TX 78610
Open to the Public – Free

For more information on how to get food, visit www.austinfoodbank.org/get-help/

Adopt a kid this holiday season, impact your own

One of my favorite parts of the holiday season as a child was always the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree. Every year, Mom would take me to go pick angels off the tree. We’d choose a boy near my age to adopt and I’d lead Mom through the clothing and toy departments, getting exactly what I thought that kid would want. Shopping for someone else my age was always a really exciting – and empowering – experience. I dreamt all year about that moment on Christmas morning when I opened my presents and was fortunate enough to always get exactly what I wanted. Being able to create for someone else the one thing I looked forward to all year made me feel like I could do anything.

It’s a testament to how impactful that experience was to me as a kid that I still remember it so vividly, three weeks away (!!!) from graduating from UT. If you’ve got children, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more meaningful way to spend the holidays with them. Of course, you don’t need to have your own kids to make someone else’s happy.

Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities to make someone’s holiday season. We’ve chronicled them in the latest GivingCity. If you’re short on cash, most of these events are looking for volunteers. If you’re short on time, most accept donations toward toy purchasing. No matter what you’ve got going on, you’ve got the opportunity to make the holidays happen for someone.

Advice for ending homelessness

The latest issue of 12 Baskets Magazine has some heartbreaking stories, I think. You’ve got to read the one about Rain. (That’s her, left.) She’s a homeless girl who lives on the streets of Austin with her friends. She shouldn’t have to sleep on the street. She didn’t do anything wrong.

She did, however, get a ticket for violating Austin’s Sleep-Lie Ordinance, which prohibits anyone from, well, sitting or lying on a downtown street. (Austin is one of the few cities in the country that has such an ordinance.) She couldn’t possibly pay the ticket, but she still carries it in her backpack, along with tampons, a change of clothes, a blanket and a spiral with some of her drawings. These are all of her possessions. Everything she owns.

We could help her, and in fact, LifeWorks does. Probably a number of other basic needs and emergency needs nonprofits, too. If you support these nonprofits, you’re doing a good thing. But maybe there’s something else you could do…? Something that might prevent more girls like Rain from sleeping on the streets…?

Here are some things you could do:

1. Be a good neighbor.
2. Make up with your sister after that fight.
3. Take the morning off of work to visit your friend’s kid in the hospital.
4. Knock on the door of the old lady down the street, the one who just talks and talks, and ask her how she’s doing.
5. Drive an hour out of your way to visit those cousins you haven’t seen in a while.
6. When you’re out shopping for yourself and you see something your mother might like, get it for her even if it isn’t her birthday or anything.
7. Send a card to your uncle that made you think of him.
8. For heaven’s sake, babysit your sister’s children for one lousy Saturday night so she and her husband can remember what it feels like to be married for a few hours. Would it kill you?

 

A person falls through many, many cracks before they wind up living out of their car or on the streets, or in a weekly hotel or an abandoned building. What finally snaps and drops them to the bottom is their ties to people who love them.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HUNGER & HOMELESSNESS IN AUSTIN THIS WEEK. MANY EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES TO CHOOSE FROM. VISIT http://hhweekaustin.com/

Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week

Austin’s Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is almost upon us; it takes place November 13-19. Awareness days/weeks/months are interesting things: as Austinites, we’re all pretty aware that homelessness exists – we see it every day. And we know that people go hungry. So why have an awareness week for problems we all already know about?

Part of it is that we don’t understand the magnitude of the problem. Nearly one in five adults and one in four children in Austin struggle to meet basic nutritional needs. A 2009 census of the homeless in Austin counted 2585 homeless men and womyn, barely more than half of them in shelters. Then there are the nuances of the problem that we’re not aware of: the relationship between homelessness and mental illness, chronic medical problems, or legal obstacles like obtaining identification.

So Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week is a great opportunity for Austinites. There are events of every sort going down: opportunities to give, volunteer, learn, and party! Here are a few of the events happening. You can find the full schedule here.

Homeless Memorial Sunrise Service

What: Memorial service for the homeless men and womyn who lost their lives this year living on the streets of Austin.

When/Where: 6:58 am Nov 14, Homeless Memorial & Tree of Remembrance at 1st and Riverside

No More Hunger Luncheon

What: Educational luncheon with representatives from Capital Area Food Bank and Meals on Wheels and More.

When/Where: 11:30am-1pm November 15, California Pizza Kitchen at Barton Creek Mall (2901 S Capital of Texas Highway)

Free Showing of The Soloist

What: Free showing of The Soloist, a 2009 film dealing with homelessness and mental illness starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr.

When/Where: 7:00 pm November 17, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (1120 S Lamar Blvd)

The Dynamics of Domestic Violence and its Connection to Homelessness

What: Interactive presentation on the connection between homelessness and domestic violence, hosted by Safeplace.

When/Where: 3-5pm November 18, Safeplace (2001 South Chicon St)

Understanding Youth Homelessness in Austin

What: Educational presentation on youth homelessness in Austin with interactive simulations and Q&A with Lifeworks staff.

When/Where: 4-7pm November 19, Lifeworks (408 W 23rd st)

An AHA moment: Austin’s heart health success

We are living in The Future, people. The phenomena that we used to call unexplainable or incomprehensible are now being explained, thanks to Science! One notable example is dementia. 50 years ago, losing one’s mind was considered a normal part of the aging process. We know now that’s not the case, and we’re starting to understand why. According to a recent study conducted at UT, there may be a link between middle-age obesity and memory problems down the road. Researchers hope that this information might help prevent the onset of dementia.

Pretty cool, right? What’s really exciting about this story is that a huge part of the credit for the research goes to Central Texans like you. The study was funded by the American Heart Association.  AHA supports some $23 million in research throughout the UT system, and a significant part of that funding comes from fundraising events here in Austin.

One such fundraising event is AHA’s annual Austin Start! Heart Walk, which took place earlier this month. The walk was a huge success, surpassing its $440,000 goal and beating last year’s total by over 75%. Almost 3,000 people came out to support AHA, and what they were able to accomplish is astonishing. Heart disease is an issue that really hits home in Austin, with more than 1 in 4 deaths in the Austin area caused by cardiovascular disease. That makes for a lot of people for which AHA’s mission is personal.

Almost 3,000 Austinites came out for the Austin Start! Heart Walk

Take, for example, Paul Lally. Paul’s a survivor of heart disease: he underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2008. Two years later, he’s still fighting heart disease – this time by raising money for AHA. Paul was the walk’s top individual fundraiser, gathering over $15,000 in donations. On top of that, he persuaded his employer to give a $10,000 matching donation.

Paul Lally, right, raised over $15,000 for the AHA Heart Walk

Inspired yet? You may have missed the Heart Walk, but there are plenty of opportunities to support the Austin chapter of AHA. Check them out here.

This Weekend in Bushwhacking:

If you’re anything like me, seeing the new Robert Rodriguez film Machete (which was shot here in Austin!) rekindled your desire to reconnect with your favorite sharp object. If you’re not, well, you can still probably feel me on this one. National Public Lands Day is this weekend, and Austinites are getting together to clean up the Barton Creek greenbelt, which is in need of maintenance after Tropical Storm Hermine did some damage to the trail system. Volunteers will also be removing invasive species. It’s the perfect chance to get your machete on. Here’s the down-low:

Who: Hosted by the Austin Parks Foundation, City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Hill Country Conservancy, Central Texas Mountaineers, and Greenbelt Guardians.

What: Greenbelt cleanup, including trail maintenance, invasive species removal, and removal of debris left by Tropical Storm Hermine.

When: Saturday, September 25, 8:30AM

Where: Barton Creek Greenbelt trailhead in Zilker Park (map)

Volunteer sign-up and more information is available here.

Registration begins at 8:30AM, followed by a 9:00AM speech by Congressman Lloyd Doggett which will include an announcement about funding for Austin’s trail system. Breakfast and lunch will be provided for volunteers. Get out there and get to cutting!

Putting Homelessness in Reverse

With the exception of Leslie, everyone’s favorite cross-dressing perennial mayoral candidate with his own iPhone app, the homeless in Austin don’t have much of a net presence. With more and more of our interaction taking place on the interwebs, this digital divide excludes the homeless from public discourse – and our community as a whole – in a pretty big way.

Enter Tom Baum, founder of Homeless Coach and all-around awesomely-named dude. Tom’s starting Homeless Coach as a way to help the homeless get back on their feet by providing that much-needed sense of community. The goal is to provide the homeless with a network of good connections and, in his words, “a life transition plan that the individual and community own and continue executing.” They hope to start as early as next month.

In order to accomplish its goals, Homeless Coach will consist of an intensive six-month program. After getting sponsorship, homeless enrollees will live in the titular Homeless Coach – an RV retrofitted with a ton of high-tech gadgetry to keep its occupants connected to the outside world.  While living in the RV, enrollees will receive life coaching to plan their transition from homelessness. They’ll remain connected with sponsors through weekly meetings and videoconferences, and stream live webcasts to engage with the community as a whole.

Looking through Homeless Coach’s press, you can tell Tom is buzzing with ideas. Every facet of every part of the process is laid out in intricate detail and explained in a complex diagram. It’s a lot to take in at once, and a convincing argument to pitch in. The amount of collaborative effort required to get things going will be a proving ground for the sense of community Tom hopes to bring to the homeless.

You can help make it happen! You can donate money or sponsor a homeless enrollee. Homeless Coach’s FAQ has a wishlist for volunteers and donations. Volunteers are needed for design, construction, coaching, fundraising, and plenty of other tasks. Your business can become a sponsor by donating in-kind goods and services ranging from netbooks to lumber to web hosting to accounting. Chances are, Homeless Coach could use your help.