The temperature was between 45 to 54 degrees from 8 to 10 a.m., Sunday, November 17th. The purple Jeep and trailer rolled in along with a student from the Austin Community College’s honors society, Phi Theta Kappa at about 8:15. He was there to hand out literature about all the services ACC provides to support adults interested in continuing their education. We set up in our usual spot in the under-bridge parking lot across from Austin Police Department Headquarters. Within the next half hour, 62 volunteers trickled in one by one to help make the giveaway run smoothly. We had a lot to roll out, and Austin Humanists at Work could not be who we are without the dedicated support from the community all over the greater Austin area. Volunteers come from all over Austin, Leander, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Manor, Kyle, and even Marble Falls!!
With all the activity going on in central Austin as of late, we weren’t sure as to how many clients were still going to be in the area. We managed to assist 180 folks who came through our line. We saw some regulars. One who has been staying at an area shelter let us know he is on the path to move and has plans for his life taking a major turn around. Without saying his name, hoping he gets to read this blog post, Austin Humanist at Work wishes him the best and hopes he gets all he has worked hard to achieve.
Another regular came by and received a new sleeping bag and tent since his was taken. He also shared some wonderful incite on a State Park in Louisiana that at one time had a botanical garden he remembered fondly as a child. Not only do our volunteers get the opportunity to help folks in need, we are fortunate to get to know some really wonderful people.
This was the second giveaway Warmth Drive items were given away on the line. We had a nice selections of hats, scarves, coats, blankets, shoes, socks, and some gloves which a group from College of Pharmacy from UT Austin helped give out. During November we also reached out to our volunteers and area communities for extra grab and go food, along with a nice donations from Panera one of our wonderful volunteers, Carolyn, arranges each month. We had some Apple employees volunteer with us who filled several areas of our our food line. 200 bags of candy were available from an area neighborhood collection from recent Halloween trick-or-treat. A big thank you to Kat for bringing the abundant supply of coffee. It was definitely a good day for coffee. Saving the best for last, thank you Bernadette, who was advocating for Postcard Project ATX, brought post cards, stamps and pens for our clients to fill out to which she personally would mail.
This was a celebration giveaway for our organization, this is our second year as an official 501c3 non-profit organization. At the end of our 3rd quarter our organization has raised over $14,000 to date, which has been used to make fill in purchases, make bulk purchases throughout the year, also to acquire a trailer, and pay for a storage unit to keep our donations housed. We have been fortunate with our area community as well who donate and volunteer each month.
Thank you: Apple Volunteers, Phi Theta Kappa of Austin Community College, Future Doctors of America, College Pharmacy of UT Austin, FRC Team #3993 The Lady Cans, Girl Scouts of Central Texas, Treasure of the Hill Senior Center, Panera Sorry if we missed anyone. Please let us know of your group, we would love to give you a shout-out!
Our next giveaway is December 15th, same time, same place. Warmth Drive still in full swing until after February Giveaway. Have a glorious month!
Thank you for this chance to connect with our community who are homeless! What a beautiful morning I had.