Blog

3M Food Drive for Family Eldercare

Two groups of 3Mers in Austin have ensured that some neighbors in need will not go hungry this holiday season. Austin Plant and ESD both held food drives prior to Thanksgiving in an effort to feed low-income senior citizens and developmentally disabled people. After taking a break from its annual food drive last year, Austin Plant employees resumed this year with zeal. This year’s food drive benefited Family Eldercare, a non-profit agency that provides essential services for elders, adults with disabilities and those who care for them. Plant employees donated 1,171 pounds of food and $561 in HEB gift cards in just eight days. Considering that the plant employs approximately 100 people, the effort was phenomenal. Zelda Laitinen, plant representative, Austin HR, said plant employees were inspired to help Family Eldercare after hearing a presentation by Pat Anthony, a Family Eldercare staff member who spoke at the plant during the United Way campaign. Lonnie Morfin wheels a load of donated food through Austin Plant. “Many of our employees have elderly parents,” said Laitinen. “We wanted to learn more about elder-care services and resources, and at the same time help support Family Eldercare and our community.” Many of Family Eldercare’s clients survive on low incomes and don’t get enough to eat. The agency collects non-perishable food donations and distributes through a food pantry or delivers it to the homes of homebound clients. Gail Sulak, EAP professional for Austin Center and Austin Plant, is president of the Family Eldercare board of directors. […]

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Tell us about your Thanksgiving Volunteer Traditions!

As we get ready for today’s 18th Annual HEB Feast of Sharing Holiday Dinner, I keep thinking about the volunteers; over 800 of them and they keep coming back and of course, we love that. We’ve been recruiting volunteers for this event for years and every year, we get full within weeks and we even have people wanting to be added to our waiting list as early as March! Every year, we see a lot of the same groups coming back to volunteer and in a way, it’s now a tradition for our volunteers to help out; from serving pies to busing tables to helping in the kids area. So what about you? Do you have Thanksgiving or Holiday volunteer traditions? Something that you do with your friends and families during the holidays? Inquiring minds want to know: Tell us your story! In case you’re still wondering, yes, we are full but we have more ways to help out this holiday season. Go to http://www.handsoncentraltexas.org/ to volunteer, sponsor a family or help out with a blanket drive. Mando,Director, Hands On Central Texas

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CISCO Systems employees work MAGIC into volunteering!

As Director of Corporate and Volunteer Relations, I work with a lot of companies doing good in the community. CISCO by far exceeded my expectations with their “can do” attitude and big hearts! They magically make things disappear…truckloads of trash, broken down washing machines, old wooden desks and much more…these are just a few things that a team of CISCO employees made “go away” at the request of the Sammy’s House Director, Isabel Huerta, while volunteering on Friday, November 9th as part of a Success By 6 Child Care Facility Improvement Project. The true magic is how their magical powers worked throughout the day! The CISCO team built and installed wooden racks, set-up a teacher’s lounge, assembled shelves, installed a “gently used” washing machine and dryer, picked-up and delivered carpet, painted wooden cribs, moved around big bulking furniture and miscellaneous items, spread gravel in the playground, and even cleaned-up by sweeping and mopping floors before leaving at the end of the day!At the end of the day the teary-eyed director and staff couldn’t believe their eyes! The CISCO team had definitely started the holiday season early by spreading the cheer! CISCO Team: Tell us about your experience! Post a comment here! Diana Santos, Director of Corporate and Volunteer Relations Hands On Central Texas

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Another record breaking year for the H-E-B Central Texas United Way campaign

Many H-E-B leaders gathered at Central Market on North Lamar on October 23rd to celebrate another record breaking year for the H-E-B Central Texas United Way campaign — and boy, did they have a lot to celebrate! It seems that H-E-B’s passion, dedication, and generosity only continues to grow with our community. The employees (Partners) in the H-E-B Central Texas region donated over $750,000 to our community through their Fall 2007 United Way Campaign. This group photo was taken at a Recognition Lunch honoring the 75+ In-Store Coordinators who helped run the United Way Campaign across the region this year. We’d like to thank these hardworking coordinators and all the generous Partners who participated in the campaign for helping us Change Central Texas — for good.

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Texans remain among nation's unhealthiest

This recent article in the Austin Business Journal on a report from United Health Foundation confirms what was found in last year’s research on the most pressing social issues facing the ten counties that comprise Central Texas: health must be a concentrated area of focus in order to close the opportunity gap in Central texas. Austin may be one of the healthiest cities in Texas, but the state as a whole is not faring well compared with the rest of the nation when it comes to health. Texas ranks 37th among the states in terms of healthiness, unchanged from last year, according to the latest report from the United Health Foundation. That’s 5.5 percent below the national norm, making the state one of the least healthy in the country. Among the challenges facing Texas are the high rate of uninsured individuals, currently 24.5 percent, and a high percentage of children in poverty at 22 percent.

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Young Leader Society's Wild Night Out,November 3

On Saturday, November 3, the Austin Scottish Rite Theater was filled with the sounds of the Roaring 1920s, as over 100 of Young Leader Society (YLS) members and their guests took part in the annual “Wild Night Out” celebration and heard the announcement of the Young Leader of the Year Award.The 2007 Young Leader of the Year is Mr. Luke Ellis. Mr. Ellis, who works as an attorney in Austin, exemplifies the YLS principles of leadership, volunteerism, and philanthropy in myriad ways. As co-chair of the People’s Law School event and host of the weekly legal segment “The Common Law” on News 8 Austin, Luke is committed to demystifying the law for the uninformed and underserved, helping them understand their rights and options and making the “legal world” seem far less daunting to the average Austinite. But that’s not nearly all. Luke has been a long-time volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, having helped the organization build homes all over the world. Now, he’s deeply committed to Austin Habitat For Humanity, serving on its board and becoming the founding member of its young professionals group, “Habitat Young Professionals.” Starting with an initial membership of 16, Luke helped turn the HYP into a strong, recognized, active organization in Austin with more than 200 members. During the group’s first year, in dues and additional fundraisers, the HYP members raised more than $80,000 and donated more than 2,000 hours to Habitat. Members identify Luke’s compassion and leadership skills as the primary reasons for the […]

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A Letter from David Balch

Today an article appeared on the front page of the Austin American Statesman entitled “Local United Way changing direction.” We were excited to see our new approach to community building get such attention. And I want to take this opportunity to expand upon some of the information from the article. I hope this brief overview gives you a clearer sense of what our new direction is, how it addresses the basic needs of our community, and helps close the growing “Opportunity Gap” between those who are getting ahead and those who are falling behind. While it’s true that we are interested in creating sustainable, long-term change in the Central Texas community, I’d like to reiterate we are not pulling away from helping people in crisis. Rather we are working to invest in programs that stabilize families and individuals. We are funding a number of basic needs services in our new approach, and are, in fact, expanding the spectrum of what constitutes “basic needs.” We see basic needs as a piece of the overall puzzle. We want to (a) empower people with the tools and knowledge to reduce their reliance on basic needs services, and (b) help move people from basic needs services into self-sustaining environments through affordable housing, meal delivery, workforce development, etc. Although we are in the middle of an open, volunteer-driven proposal (funding) process, in which a record number of organizations have applied for community dollars, I’d like to provide a few examples of basic needs services we […]

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African-American Chamber Doing Good by Embracing History & Cultural Identity

I attended the Capital City African-American Chamber’s 25th Anniversary Luncheon a few weeks ago. I wanted to write about it, not so much to tell you about the event but more about the experience. From the beginning, it made me feel good inside. They kicked it off with a great singer, Ms. Judy Arnold who blew everyone away with her rendition of the National Anthem & the African-American National Anthem and an invocation by Reverend Joseph C. Parker from David Chapel Baptist Church. What a great way to start the celebration of African-American contributions to the Greater Austin community! There was a feeling of community, of camaraderie and a true respect for the history of the chamber and those that helped build it. The program included founding board members, past executive directors and a transition to the future with the current President, Dr. Chiquita W. Eugene. My favorite parts were the history, stories and lessons, all combined together. I’m a strong believer that before we move forward, we must look back and learn from our past. And speaking of the next wave of leaders….I’ve had the opportunity to work with Arron Brooks, Membership & Tourism Manager at the Chamber. Arron is a great person to work with and I wanted get to know him a little more. I asked him a few questions about his work, the chamber and a glimpse into the importance of culture. Here’s what he had to say….. Tell me about yourself and what you do?I’m […]

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