Karli Isiyel is the Creative Director at Kerbey Lane Cafe, and a stupendous volunteer and partner of United Way for Greater Austin! Kerbey Lane is graciously donating all of their proceeds from their anniversary celebration on May 5 to UWATX, so consider stopping by for some pancakes to support our friends and neighbors. Karli has volunteered with United Way in many different ways. She served on our logistics committee for Ruthless Good: The Great Austin Scavenger Hunt and she helps mobilize the team at Kerbey to get involved in volunteer projects that support UWATX’s Center Project supporting early childhood education facilities that provide subsidized space for low-income children to receive quality child care. We love Karli and are grateful for her thoughts about volunteerism at Kerbey Lane Cafe and what our community means to her.
- How long have you and Kerbey Lane Cafe been involved with United Way for Greater Austin?
We have been volunteering with UWATX for 5 years now! What a wild ride it has been 🙂 
What is your favorite memory of volunteering? I always enjoy making green pancakes at Ronald McDonald house, everyone is eager to help and you get to hang out with the people that may be going through a rough time in their lives and make their day a little brighter – pic attached of me and my friend Ronny. Clearly I’m a visual person – big surprise.
- As a longtime Austinite, what is your favorite thing about our exceptional community? I think being a native Austinite, I take certain things for granted. I’ve never lived in any other city, so I definitely take for granted how clean we keep our city, how kind we are to our neighbors and how progressive we are as a whole. I guess that’s why everyone and their mom is moving here.
- How has volunteerism enhanced the experience of working at Kerbey Lane Cafe? Well, it’s definitely changed my experience here. I’ve been here just over 7 years and helped start the community engagement program 5 years ago. It has really developed over time and is now one of our core values. It makes us more compassionate and I think that everyone could use a little more compassion in their personal lives and careers.
If you were a pancake, what flavor pancake would you choose to be? Only the most fun and colorful – Birthday Cake Pancake!! By the way – everyone should definitely come in to Kerbey Lane Cafepancake on May 5th and eat those exact pancakes since we are giving all of our proceeds that day to UWATX! Check out this mouthwatering pic.
Kerbey Lane Cafe is a sponsor of our annual Spring Day of Caring! Join them in giving back to our community by signing up for one of the available volunteer projects on May 5 or May 6.