It is full steam ahead with the giving season here at Austin Humanists at Work. October – December of each year brings a bit more items to our community who needs support from people all over the Austin area. With three major holidays in the coming months, our organization reaches out to donors to help spread cheer to those in our community in most need. This next giveaway will bring many donations of winter clothing, sleeping bags, and tents, which helps those living outside during wet and cold conditions. We don’t want to forget the safety measures we have put in place to keep our clients and volunteers safe during this time of COVID-19.
This is how our giveaways have been operating:
- Our volunteers will be masked , and will wash/sanitize hands during all aspects of our prep and giveaway.
- Everyone who volunteers at this time must be 18 years of age or older.
- All items will be bagged prior to the event.
- Our teams of volunteers will be kept to small group who will physically distance themselves for safety. We are only in need of 6-8 volunteers to distribute bags, and no more than 6-7 volunteers for our Winter Warmth Drive tables.
- Our focus is to continue to offer our staple hygiene/ personal care items, non-perishable foods, and other select items to folks in Central Austin, doing so with no strings attached.
- Donations we seek to acquire are pre-packaged, single serving sizes of the following (CLICK HERE to go to our Amazon Food Wish List): Slim Jims, beef jerky, canned pull tab Vienna sausages, chicken and tuna packs, chicken and tuna salad snack packs, meal shakes, trail mix, nuts, peanut butter packs, fruit snacks, packs of crackers, and snack bars/ granola bars. Please, all must be non-perishable, cans need to be pull tab accessible, ready to eat, prepackaged and single serving. No at home portioning from larger supply. Thank you for understanding.
- An essential supply of travel size toiletries will also be in the bags. This list includes, depending on supply/ donations (CLICK HERE to go to our Amazon Main Wish List): soap, shampoo, conditioner, washcloth, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, razors, insect repellent, sun screen, toilet paper, men’s socks and menstrual kits. (We are stocked up on some things but not other, visit our WHAT WE NEED page to see what we currently are in dire need for donation)
- We have revamped our main Donate page which gives you categorized cheat sheets of all we do and do not take for donation. We also have a What we need? page which lets everyone know in real time which staple items we are in most need.
- We also have a small supply of fabric masks for those who need them. If you would like to donated masks, we will happily keep handing them out. Thank you!
Our volunteers make two stop: our usual location at the under-bridge parking lot along I35 Frontage between 6-8th streets across from APD headquarters and an encampment not far from our regular giveaway spots. We will only be taking a limited number of volunteers, so if you’re interested in volunteering please email info@austinhumanistsatwork.org, there is limited space available.
From October 2020 to February 2021 we will be collecting a list of items for our Winter Warmth Drive. Items like sleeping bags, tents, men’s jeans, warm shoes, coats are just a few of the things a person needs to help protect them from the Texas elements. Looking for service hours, or how you can help our organization, run your own Winter Warm Drive that will benefit our organization during this time. Click on our Keep Austin Warm and Dry for more information, and even a PDF for a printable flyer to display in your communities, or online.
We have two Amazon Wish Lists: Main Wish List and Food Wish List for the ease of donation or if you’d like to arrange pick up or drop off, please email info@austinhumanistsatwork.org. Thank you.
Check out what we our Traffic Light List for all the things we are in most need for our giveaway bags. The Traffic Light List is an up to date list of items we need to most for our upcoming giveaways.
Our Gettin’ Knotty knitting guild is still meeting on Zoom, October 22nd, from 7-10pm. This group knits, crochets, sews masks, washcloths, hats and scarves which are distributed at our giveaways. Join their Facebook group for more information or email Virginia Miller.
ATXHAW is supporting the efforts of Eat Apart Together (EAT), an initiative of Austin Public Health Department, to provide bags of shelf stable food to our unsheltered neighbors in North Austin. Our area is the I-35 corridor North of 183. Each bag will contain 15 pounds of food. For three Sundays a month at 8:30 a.m., then around 10:30- 11am after our 4th Sunday giveaways. Currently we have been operating with a team of 6 people, and 11 stops handing out 72 bags, and 72 gallons of water every Sunday. If have a vehicle that can transport 10-20 bags, and gallons jugs of water, we would love your help. Please email Virginia Miller for more information.
Austin Humanists at Work thanks everyone for their continued support of our organization. Now, more than ever, it is important to come together to help each other through this hard time and much uncertainty. Wishing everyone health, love, and peace.