A celebration of 6 years couldn’t have gone any better than it did last Sunday. Not only did Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless celebrate 6 years, but it was a record breaking morning all thanks to the hard work and dedication of the 40 volunteers who came. Laid out on six, 6 foot tables, a coffee station and clothing island we had a record breaking selection of 3861 pieces that was donated over the past month to serve an also record breaking 202 people who came through our line. We had probably the largest selection of different items on our line to date.
Among the items this month were 80 Just Because bags made by the Beyond the Basics Group. These bags were brightly decorated and filled with treats like gum, candy, Sodoku books, pens, magazines and other various items. Just a little surprise inside which someone mentioned “felt like a gift”.
Since August ATXAHH’s 50 States Challenge 2.0 has brought in donations from 10 states: California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The challenge will be running until the end of September so it’s not too late to fill in your state! Lets beat last years challenge of 16 states and the Dominican Republic. Check out our 50 States Challenge 2.0 page for more details. We also can’t do it without word of mouth. Pass out our webpage to your communities, friends and family.
One of our most frequently asked questions is, what do we need? Have you looked at our Donate page on our website? You can find most of what we accept and what we can’t accept. ATXAHH also sends out a monthly “Traffic Light Report” which will tell you what we have in abundance and items we are in dire need. Subscribe to our blog, put your email address in the field on the right hand side of our homepage, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and/ or Pinterest to keep up to date with what’s new, what needed and fun ways to be involved. Email our Donations Coordinator to see how you can arrange a pick up of your donations.
Gettin’ Knotty is currently full steam ahead creating scarves and hats while still working on washcloths. They are also accepting donations of plarn, plastic bag yarn, to make water resistant sleeping mats for the impending cold weather. Contact Virginia to get on their email list via our Contact page or join their Facebook group. They can use as many Knotty people as possible to keep up numbers all through winter. 
