With the start of school less than a month out, UWATX’s volunteer arm, Hands On Central Texas, is already planning the Back to School Volunteer Day at Webb Early College Prep Academy. Volunteers will come together on August 18th to help teachers prepare their classrooms for the year, beautify the campus and distribute donated school supplies to different programs and areas of the school. One of our dedicated partners, Broadway Bank, has been volunteering with our back to school efforts for the past two years. Broadway Bank’s home city of San Antonio hosts a large school supply collection, which inspired Austin Assistant Market Manager, Jackie Oliver, to bring those efforts to Austin when she reached out to UWATX in 2014. That year and the following year, 2015, Broadway Bank successfully collected supplies for more than 50 students in need at a partner middle school by hosting collection events at their downtown Austin branch. Jackie made sure to keep the Broadway Bank group involved and volunteering throughout the year. Employees participated in the H-E-B Feast of Sharing in November, Spring Day of Caring and Fall Day of Caring. Additionally, Broadway Bank donated holiday meal kits to families at the Mendez Boys and Girls Club Thanksgiving Dinner. The meal kits included food to prepare a delicious family meal and an H-E-B gift card to purchase a turkey. We had the opportunity to chat with Jackie and her marketing team about what drives Broadway Bank’s philanthropic involvement: 1. How long have you been involved with […]
Read MoreUWATX Hosts 2nd Annual Community Tree Lighting
We held our 2nd Annual Community Tree Lighting event for the St. John’s community on Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2015. Webb Middle School students and their families, as well as other community members, were invited to attend the free holiday party. The kids loved visiting with the bunnies, hedgehogs, ducklings and more that the Tiny Tails To You traveling petting zoo brought. Other activities included a cookies and cocoa station, card and ornament making, a balloon artist and face painters. One of our Webb Middle School volunteer project leader students had the idea to set up a reading corner and read holiday books to some of the younger children at the event. As the sun set, Principal “Santa” Sanchez spoke of the importance and positive impact that he has seen through United Way’s support of the Webb campus. 54% of students at Webb received at least one service coordinated through UWATX last year, including behavioral health, mentoring, tutoring and afterschool programs. Webb’s musical groups performed holiday classics and the audience counted down from five until the tree was lit up with blue and gold–Webb’s school colors. Young Leaders Society members passed out donated toys and books to the children who attended. Thank you to Capital Metro who once again sponsored the 15 foot tree that lit up the St. John’s neighborhood this year! Thank you also to ABC Home & Commercial for decorating the tree, DoubleTree Hotels who provided volunteers and cookies, H-E-B for donating the hot cocoa, Petsmart for […]
Read MoreMendez Students Give Thanks By Sharing a Meal with Their Community
Mendez Middle School students held their second annual Thanksgiving Family Night on November 20th. Mendez’s free afterschool enrichment program is coordinated through Boys and Girls Club and ACE-Austin as part of our out-of-school time (OST curriculum), is open to any student at the school and hosts an annual Thanksgiving event for families of students to come meet afterschool staff and learn about what their kids do in the program. Before their community Thanksgiving feast, students created ornaments for community events, made holiday-themed bookmarks to be distributed with donated books and created cards as gifts for family and friends. Broadway Bank donated seven Thanksgiving meal kits that were raffled off to families who attended. Each kit included the makings of a delicious holiday meal, including a ham, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, an H-E-B gift card and more. Over 97% of students at Mendez are economically disadvantaged. “Broadway Bankers give with a thankful heart during the holiday season and throughout the year. We established Care Corps to honor the legacy of giving handed down from our founders Col. Charles E. Cheever Sr. and Betty Cheever. Care Corps serves 13,000 hours with more than a hundred projects throughout the year. For Broadway Bank being “here for good” means putting our community first because we live and work here too. Giving back is how we do our part to keep our local communities strong and thriving.” –Jackie Oliver, Broadway Bank Arthur Castillo, Director of Boys & Girls Club, sees this as an opportunity to […]
Read MoreSuccess Story: Kevin Rogel
What do you think of when you hear the word “philanthropist?” This year’s theme for employee campaigns is to “put away your top hats and monocles” and that “anyone can be a philanthropist.” We believe that whether you give $5 a year or $500,000 a year, you are a philanthropist; it is your giving spirit and earnest attempt to better your community that grants you this fancy-sounding title. We could find no better example of this than Kevin Rogel, who graciously agreed to let us share his story. We met Kevin, 16, a few years ago when he was a student at Webb Middle School. He joined our Volunteer Project Leader group, which teaches middle school students to not only give back, but to design and lead their own volunteer projects. While on a tour of the middle school, H-E-B senior vice president Jeff Thomas heard Kevin speak about the program and was impressed with his confidence, philanthropic heart and always positive attitude. Thomas told Kevin later that day, “when you hit 16…look me up” for an open position awaiting him at H-E-B. Mere days after Kevin’s 16th birthday last April, Kevin filled out his application with the help of his mentor and UWATX Director of Volunteer Engagement, Nikki Kruger–and as Thomas promised, he was hired as a Customer Service Associate. Unfortunately, Kevin awoke a few days later in a hospital in San Antonio with more than 40% of his body covered in third-degree burns. While helping his mom cook, he slipped […]
Read MoreUWATX pacesetter campaigns kickoff with H-E-B
While the majority of United Way for Greater Austin’s Employee Campaigns run throughout the fall, a few companies set the pace and the tone for each year’s season. As always, H-E-B is one of the first out of the gate, enthusiastic and dedicated to making a difference. “H-E-B has always been committed to giving back,” said Jeff Thomas, Senior Vice President – General Manager for the Central Texas region of H-E-B. “We are one of the largest employers in the Greater Austin area, so we know we can have a great influence on the community that we live in and work in.” Nearly a month ago, more than 50 H-E-B In-Store Coordinators joined United Way staff to get excited about campaign and see what was in store for this year. Coordinators shared their experiences in past campaigns and gave each other tips on how to make the most out of the experience, for themselves, fellow employees and the community. “I think it’s the way that they make the impact of each employee’s gift clear that really sets H-E-B apart,” said Greg Bennett, the UWATX Development Officer that manages H-E-B’s campaign. “They emphasize how what seems like a small gift can make a big impact. For example, they’ll show a $2 soft drink and say ‘The price of a soda every week can provide two weeks of one-on-one mentoring for a middle school student.’” This year, H-E-B partners have taken their work to the next level by printing signage to post […]
Read MoreCampaign Co-Chair Q&A: Part 3
For United Way Capital Area’s annual Workplace Giving Campaigns, two dedicated volunteers help promote the importance of giving through the workplace by serving as Campaign Co-Chairs. This year’s Co-Chairs are Ben Bentzin, CEO of Interactive Health Technologies, Inc., and Jeff Thomas, Regional Vice President for H-E-B. They answered some questions about their role in the campaign in the last of this three-part series. Why do you think it’s important for people to give through their workplace? Jeff: First, it’s easy. If your workplace sets up a program that allows you to contribute a small amount each week over the course of a year, that small amount can mean a whole awful lot to an individual and collectively to the agencies United Way supports. Employers who set up processes and systems that make it easy for their employees to give, can make a big difference in that way. How does workplace giving encourage philanthropy throughout Austin? Ben: A workplace giving campaign does three things: 1. It gives companies a chance to raise their corporation’s profile in our community. It extends and enhances the value of their brand because they’re seen as a good citizen. 2. It gives companies an easy way to do some social good in our community and be sure that those dollars are going to be spent in a way that’s really helping people living in poverty. 3. It’s a chance for employees to work together as a team. A lot of employees […]
Read MoreCampaign Co-Chair Q&A: Part 2
For United Way Capital Area’s annual Workplace Giving Campaigns, two dedicated volunteers help promote the importance of giving through the workplace by serving as Campaign Co-Chairs. This year’s Co-Chairs are Ben Bentzin, CEO of Interactive Health Technologies, Inc., and Jeff Thomas, Regional Vice President for H-E-B. They answered some questions about their role in the campaign in the second of this three-part series. Why do you give to UWCA? Jeff: It’s a wonderful organization that touches so many different needs in our community and I have a passion around many of these needs- education for one, especially early education. You can impact the life of a young child even prior to going into school and make a difference in their life forever. Right now, we’re putting a lot of time, energy and money into building literacy rates in the state of Texas and our chairman Charles Butt is very passionate about that, as I am. I also have a passion around the well-being and health of the people in our community. H-E-B is doing an awful lot to make sure we’re educating our partners about being healthy, taking better care of themselves and many of the organizations that UWCA touches connect to that. There’s so many different needs in our community that, if not for UWCA, would go unfilled, so that’s why I’m passionate about giving and supporting United Way. Why do you have a passion for improving the Austin community? Ben: When I’m out during campaign, I talk about […]
Read MoreCampaign Co-Chair Q&A, Part 1
For United Way Capital Area’s annual Workplace Giving Campaigns, two dedicated volunteers help promote the importance of giving through the workplace by serving as Campaign Co-Chairs. This year’s Co-Chairs are Ben Bentzin, CEO of Interactive Health Technologies, Inc., and Jeff Thomas, Regional Vice President for H-E-B. They answered some questions about their role in the campaign in the first of this three-part series. What is the role of the Campaign Co-Chair? The role of the Campaign Co-Chair is to be the cheerleader for the campaign. It’s a lot like being in a political campaign, except instead of running for yourself, you’re running to raise money for our community. I love being Campaign Co-Chair, it’s a chance for me to go out every day- I’ve been out every day this week- and talk about all the impact we can have through education, income and health. I also love seeing the diversity of the campaigns that we have and how these employee-driven campaigns are totally different but perfect for their individual companies- they’re motivating for employees, it gives them a chance to get to know each other better and do some good in the community. Why did you choose to become this year’s Campaign Co-Chair? I’ve been associated with United Way almost my entire H-E-B career and in fact early in my management years with H-E-B in the early 80s, I was the coordinator for H-E-B’s United Way campaign for one of those years. Ever since then I’ve had a connection to […]
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