Newsroom

UWATX Staff Makes Austin Greater, One Meal at a Time

United Way for Greater Austin employees spend countless hours each and every day promoting our vision and mission – we inspire philanthropy within our community in order to break down barriers to economic opportunity and ensure that Greater Austin continues to thrive. We collaborate with community partners to ensure that every child is kindergarten-ready, tirelessly work to prepare students for success in high school, empower working-poor families and individuals with the knowledge and tools to become financially stable, and provide simple, one-call access to nonprofit and governmental resources for Central Texas. 330+ hours volunteered   700+ meals delivered In addition to their dedication within the walls of our office, many of our staff members also use personal time each week to volunteer with Meals on Wheels. This passionate team of volunteers loads up food prepared by Meals on Wheels and delivers it to the doors of some of Austin’s most vulnerable citizens every Wednesday. Over the past four years, we have volunteered more than 330 hours and delivered more than 700 meals! Rain or shine, our group never deviates from the weekly route, knowing that a handful of people depend on our dedication to meet their food needs. Our staff members have developed connections with the beneficiaries of this service, engaging in quick chats each week while delivering meals to these thankful recipients. “I volunteer for Meals on Wheels and More because I know that when I knock on the door and announce, ‘Meals on Wheels’, I instantly brighten someone’s day,” said Vanessa Hartman, director of […]

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UWATX Leads Projects That Make a Difference for Local Schools

United Way for Greater Austin believes that anyone, regardless of their ability to make a financial contribution, can engage in philanthropy. Volunteering one’s time is a valuable way to make a positive impact and invest in the community. As part of our annual participation in Make a Difference Day, one of the largest national days of community service, our staff members organized projects that allowed others to donate their time and talents in order to make local schools greater. On Friday, October 24, Hands On Central Texas coordinated a volunteer project for Mendez Middle School students to clean up litter on campus. Approximately 60 students participated in the project and were supported by adult volunteers through our Young Leaders Society. Ricoh kicked off its United Way for Greater Austin employee campaign by volunteering. Employees helped prepare Webb Middle School’s gardens for future outdoor classroom instruction. Webb’s Volunteer Project Leaders led the volunteers in gardening, and spoke about their campus and future project plans for the school and neighborhood. A group of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group employees also volunteered their time in the St. John’s neighborhood, where Webb is located, by touching up the Born Learning Trail at J.J. Pickle Elementary. Volunteers cleaned up the area and painted shapes, numbers and letters that coordinate with activity signs for children. Dr. Pepper Snapple Group employees also wrote inspirational letters to middle school students at our three Target Graduation middle schools (Webb, Decker, Mendez) and made bookmarks to accompany board books from recent book drives. Decker Middle […]

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Fall Day of Caring: A volunteer’s perspective

Some might think that going out to work in a garden the day after torrential rains would be a not-so great idea. How much mud are you going to encounter? Will the flower beds and vegetable patches be flooded? Will it be gross? Those are some of the questions that might come up. It had rained pretty hard the night before the Austin American-Statesman volunteers were scheduled to volunteer in the JJ Pickle Elementary School garden. Because of this, we showed up in rain boots and rain coats, hats and hooded jackets. By the time we arrived at the school, there were menacing clouds gathering again in the sky, but these provided a great cover for us as we gathered our tools and listened to the instructions for the day. Our volunteer leader, Judith Hutchinson, greeted us with coffee and donuts. She was happy to see that we arrived in a school bus—very appropriate for our volunteering location. We huddled in front of the bus for a picture, and then we were off to the gardens. Judith showed us where all the tools were and gave us plenty of options of where to start and what to improve. There was more than enough enthusiasm to go around. Plenty of fresh green weeds to pull from the raised vegetable beds, and soft, crumbly dirt to turn over with a shovel. We emptied a pond in order to make room for fresh water, trimmed flower bushes and made sure the sprouting vegetables […]

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[VIDEO] YOU help Austin families thrive

Our friends and neighbors in particular communities are struggling more – in St. John’s, Manor and Dove Springs, families face unique challenges. To help Greater Austin thrive, we focus on these areas.    [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Dds5ulFns[/youtube]   Learn more about the Salazars, Maldonados or Wynns – and make a gift today to support Austin families.   

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UWATX Exemplifies Employee Giving

At United Way for Greater Austin, we believe that anyone- regardless of income- can be a philanthropist. Through Employee Giving Campaigns, UWATX provides an opportunity for employees at area businesses to donate a portion of every paycheck to make a positive impact.  We wouldn’t ask others to give if we didn’t give ourselves. UWATX is one of 400+ Austin-area businesses that run an Employee Campaign. Our Building Spirit Committee worked on the logistics behind a week of fun-filled, spirit-building activities to encourage employee participation. This year, campaign focused on the three Austin neighborhoods were our work is centered: Manor, St. John’s and Dove Springs. In planning this week of spirited activities, our goal was to incorporate the neighborhoods that benefit from the donations.   Get everyone excited before campaign starts The week before our campaign, the Spirit Committee hid two sets of Michael Buble concert tickets in the office and sent out an email to staff containing riddles on where to find them. The stakes where high and the hunt was fierce! Building suspense and excitement during the days and weeks leading up to your campaign is a great way to get people thinking about how they plan on participating.   Kickoff the campaign with a fun event and communicate important details On Monday morning, UWATX Staff met over a scrumptious breakfast to discuss the importance of Employee Campaign. We are proud to boast a 97 percent participation rate from our last campaign, and hope to do just as well this year!    Connect your Employee […]

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WLC Spotlight: Daniela Knight

With Parents’ Day 2014 just around the corner, it is UWATX’s pleasure to introduce Daniela Knight, mother of two, Registered Dietician, and recent inductee and executive committee member of Women’s Leadership Council (WLC). Daniela served as a Board Member of Austin NCL in addition to owning Austin Nutritional Education where she provided her expertise on diabetes control, weight loss and healthy eating habits. She also impacted the community through her outstanding work as a Senior Health Educator with The Austin Diagnostic Clinic and as a Clinical Dietician with the Round Rock Hospital. Daniela is excited to be a part of WLC, the most powerful, female-driven philanthropic force for improving early childhood education in Central Texas. For Daniela, being part of WLC is a chance to “get more invested in the community and connect with a diverse group of successful women”  Based on her personal experience as a parent, Daniela has seen first-hand how education and stimulation at a young age can positively impact a child’s success later in life. She views her involvement with WLC as a chance to become even more invested in the community and connect with a diverse group of successful women as powerful force for change. In the past, Daniela and her family were able to contribute to the community through activities with Girl Scouts, Booster Clubs and National Charity League. As her youngest child prepares to graduate from high school, Daniela is exploring new ways of giving back through WLC. Daniela hopes to utilize her public speaking […]

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It takes a lot to thrive as a working family

This is the Salazar family – they live in the St. John’s neighborhood in Austin, near the intersection of I-35 and 183. Like many Austin families, they juggle many challenges – tight budgets, long hours and trying to provide the best for their family – so the Salazars need support from their community. Claudia, the mother, decided to stay at home to care for their children and avoid the high costs of child care while her husband provides for the family by fixing cars. Between transportation to get to work on time, food, bills and rent – there’s barely enough left at the end of each paycheck. During the summer especially, as the temperatures rise, so do water and electric bills – so a time that most families enjoy together is a time of stress in the Salazar home as their finances get even tighter. The Salazars have even considered taking out payday loans just to get along – but these can cost thousands in fees and leave them with even more challenges. But the Salazars can turn to United Way to access safer banking options so they can avoid payday lenders – or call our Navigation Center to connect to summer food programs.  In a couple of years, their daughter Kylie will enter middle school where many students begin to fall behind. The Salazar’s know that for Kylie to stay on the path to graduation, she’ll need support from both of them, she’ll need to not worry about food or how she’ll get […]

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Get to know your city

Austin is an amazing city to live and work in. We know because UWATX has been serving this city for 90 years.  We recently compiled a history of this wonderful community in our ‘United for 90 Years’ Timeline to celebrate the culture and growth of Greater Austin. If you’re looking for a fun summer activity, we’ve not turned the timeline into a map to help Austinites plan a scavenger hunt of our city’s history – including the FIRST headquarters of United Way for Greater Austin!      See an iconic Austin spot missing? Let us know in the comments! 

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Latest news: Austin American-Statesman view on pre-K

On Monday, the Austin American-Statesman featured our work in early childhood education and the unique challenges for our young children in Austin. The article highlighted our School Readiness Action Plan – an ambitious three-year plan to increase the percent of children who enter kindergarten ready for school to 70 percent by 2015.  As a follow up, today the Austin American-Statesman Editorial Board published their view on early childhood education, saying “…pre-K programs [are] a necessary asset for Texas children.” You can read the full article below:   Better pre-K means better future Texans By AAS Editoral Board  Wednesday, July 9 Pre-kindergarten is vital for the success of any child’s education. Aside from getting students ready for kindergarten, pre-K reduces use of special education services, lowers grade retention and improves high school graduation rates. Studies also have shown that children who attend high-quality pre-K programs have higher earnings as adults and are less likely to be dependent on welfare.Yet in Travis County, about half the area’s youngest students aren’t ready to enter kindergarten despite many efforts by local school districts, nonprofits and foundations, the American-Statesman’s Julie Chang reported Monday. An influx of new students every year, poverty and language barriers complicate the mission. With more academics being presented in kindergarten, children need a pre-academic foundation before entering that grade. In pre-K, kids not only learn new words, numbers and problem-solving skills, but they also learn social skills such as how to pay attention in class and interact with other students. Despite the difficulties, […]

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Nine young professionals making Austin greater

As part of our 90-day celebration of UWATX’s 90th anniversary, we’re working on 10 lists of 9 highlighting influential and impactful people in the Austin community. In the sixth part of our series, we bring you nine young professionals changing Austin.  Austin’s a city of entrepreneurs, innovators and philanthropists – and we’re a great city for young professionals, so it was difficult to determine who to highlight with so many talented Austinites. We chose to focus on individuals who made an impact on our community with a commitment to what makes Austin unique AND philanthropic efforts.    1. Dan Graham Dan Graham is founder and CEO of BuildASign.com. Dan has been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2013 Central Texas, a 2012 best CEO by the Austin Business Journal, and Austin Under 40’s 2012 Austinite of the Year. He is on the Board of Directors for United Way for Greater Austin, Caritas of Austin and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. He is a mentor through Capital Factory and Incubation Station.   2. Julie Fisher Julie Fisher is the Public Affairs and Community Relations Specialist at Samsung Austin Semiconductor. Julie is heavily involved with UWATX. She mentors students weekly, is an Employee Campaign Leader for Samsung’s Employee Campaign, and on the Young Leaders Society Founding Committee. Photo: UWATX photo of Julie volunteering at Decker Middle School.   3. Luke Martinez Luke Martinez is Senior Vice President; Process Design Consultant at Bank of America. Very involved with UWATX, Luke is […]

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