volunteering

November Is National Adoption Month.

Every year over 600 children in Central Texas wait for a forever family, a place to call home. The Heart Gallery is a portrait exhibit and community education/outreach initiative that brings to life the beautiful personalities of children who are waiting to be adopted. Many of these are older children, sibling groups, and children with special needs—often referred to as forgotten children.

Read on and learn about the stories of these beautiful children.

Live Here I Give Here’s Actions for Good campaign is happening November 1st – December 1st as part of the global GivingTuesday generosity movement. It’s a great opportunity for parents and caregivers to share their values around philanthropy and get the kiddos involved in doing some good right here in Central Texas — the place we love to call home.

Giving back makes kids feel empowered and instilling the value of generosity can have lifelong benefits, including: enhancing your mood, fostering optimism, reducing depression, and creating healthy relationships. Generosity has even been linked to higher rates of happiness. Here's how to get your kids involved in Social Good.

As we all know, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and assisted living communities have been hit extra hard by our current health crisis. As per the CDC, “Given their congregate nature and resident population served (e.g., older adults often with underlying chronic medical conditions), nursing home populations are at high risk of being affected by respiratory pathogens like COVID-19.” However, not only are they particularly vulnerable when it comes to their health, they’re also hit extra hard with isolation.

Many residents haven’t received in-person visits from family and friends since March, as most facilities limit community entry to essential visitors only (those necessary for resident care and community operations) and don’t allow in-house social visits, public events or outings.

In addition – and that is an ongoing situation and not specific to COVID-19 – some residents may not have family and friends close by or may not have visitors at all. 

We therefore invite families in and around Austin to join us in bringing a smile to many sad faces, and this is how.

Volunteering fosters many desirable traits that all parents want their children to possess. However, many children wonder what’s going to be in it for them. How will it directly affect them and their well-being? Many organizations in and around Austin are at the forefront of answering this question and are giving children an incentive to participate in creating a culture of generosity in their community while also encouraging their entire family to join in. 

Does your child’s high school offer students the opportunity of and assistance with voter registration? They should. It's the law. 

Twice each academic year, once per semester, Texas high school principals must offer students 18 years of age or turning 18 that school year, the chance to register to vote.

Learn more about your child's high school's duties and how you can get involved and help others register to vote.

Attention, local businesses owners!

We are happy to announce that we're going to roll out a new service free of charge for local businesses and invite you to participate in this program.

We are partnering with Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) of schools in the Austin area. As you may know, PTOs often seek fundraising support or donations for upcoming school events, such as raffle prizes, food and snacks, or other forms of donations. This is a great way for local businesses to give back to the community and, at the same time, to promote their products and services to families in the area.

Congenital Heart Defects are the number one kind of birth defect.

 
You may have heard about Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel sharing his family’s story: his newborn son Billy was diagnosed with a Congenital Heart Defect that required immediate open heart surgery. 

Congenital Heart Defects or Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) are fairly common. About 8 out of every 1,000 newborns – that’s about 40,000 babies every year in the United States – are born with a Congenital Heart Defect. Here's how you can help make a difference.

Here's how you can honor babies, moms, and heart healthy lives in a very special way.

The Austin Parks Foundation (APF) introduces the Little Hummingbird Society!

The program offers kids a great way to learn about giving back to their community and the importance of Austin’s parks, trails and green spaces through seasonal activity kits and special kids events including volunteer projects. Find out more.

Do you remember when you moved into your first home and all the things that you needed in order to start a new life on your own? It's a big step and it isn't always easy, especially for youth and young families with little money and resources.

Today, we'd like to introduce you to a new nonprofit that aims to provide those individuals with as much assistance as possible.

Touch, climb on, and explore over 60 big and loud motor vehicles such as fire trucks, ambulances, excavators, dozers, and more, at this Austin family favorite: the 7th annual Touch-A-Truck at Camp Mabry Saturday, May 12th from 10am – 3pm.

Read on for details and how to enter for a chance to win a Family 4-Pack of Tickets to the event.

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