Author: Aviva Pinchas

From our friends at TECEC: Your hard work has helped HB 130–full day high-quality pre-k–move forward in the Texas Legislative process. On Saturday, this critical legislation was placed on the General State Calendar, meaning that there is a strong probability that the House will bring it to a floor vote sometime this week. However, the more legislators hear from you on this subject the more likely the bill will come up for a vote quickly. The clock is ticking in the 81st Legislative Session, so pre-k advocates must do all they can to let their Representatives know how important HB 130 is to them. It is now absolutely critical that your Representative in the Texas House hears from you on HB 130 today. Click here to take action now.

United Way and Hands On Central Texas Spring 2009 Day of Caring from unitedwaycapitalarea on Vimeo.

The Summer Food Program is funded through the US Department of Agriculture and run by the Texas Department of Agriculture. During the summer students who normally receive free or reduced lunch are able to go to select sites to attain a free meal. In some cases, a child can receive lunch and breakfast. AISD provides flexible guidelines for who can qualify for the program. In some cases, parents can participate for a small fee, and sometimes younger, non-school-aged children can get a meal as well. AISD operates the Summer Food Program at approximately 50 to 60 locations. To locate the location nearest to your home (as not all sites are relative to where your child attends school), call 2-1-1.

2009 United Way Spring Day of Caring in Review United Way’s Spring Day of Caring on Friday, April 24th was a huge success! It’s wonderful to see corporate and community volunteers “Live United” by advocating, volunteering and giving all in one day! Austin Mayoral Candidates The day started with breakfast tacos, photo ops, background music from Mix 94.7, and messages from the dynamic Mayoral candidates Brewster McCracken, Carole Keeton-Strayhorn and Lee Leffingwell’s campaign managers, who highlighted the tangible contribution that volunteering makes to changing and improving the services that organizations and corporate companies can provide to the Austin community. Carole Keeton-Strayhorn & Debbie Bresette Nordstrom State Farm You made a difference in the community, which included 18 companies and 350 corporate and community volunteers at 21 local nonprofit organizations that tackled meaningful volunteer projects throughout Austin. Your impact at the end of the day was nothing less than impressive. Volunteers put in an estimated dollar value of $36,400 of volunteer hours in the Austin community in one day! Reagan High School- Flextronics Wooten Elementary School- 3M Capital Area Food Bank – Freescale Participating sponsors and donors who also made the 2009 Spring Day of Caring possible: Freecale Coca-cola HEB City of Austin Pro-Graphix Kevin Greenblat – photographer The following companies supported United Way and our community by committing employee time to participate: Amplify Applied Materials Dell Emerson Flextronics Four Season’s Freescale HEB Intel Merchant’s Bonding Navigators Nordstrom Sage State Farm Insurance St. Edwards University Texas Gas TD Industries Team Qwest […]

Mayoral Candidates Brewster McCracken and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, along with Team Leffingwell, were the keynote speakers at our 2009 Spring Day of Caring. A big thank you to them and all of our volunteers who helped clean up graffiti, stock food pantries, beautify child care centers and volunteer at several other locations around Austin. Also, thank you to Mix 94.7 for providing the music and Kevin Greenblat for his professional photography. …also, check out the Day of Caring in the News! Mayoral candidates clarify positions (KXAN) United Way Launches Day of Caring (Fox 7)

This Friday, we’re hosting our Spring Day of Caring with special guests Mayoral Candidates Lee Leffingwell, Brewster McCracken & Carol Keeton Strayhorn. We asked the Mayoral Candidates to join us & help us answer President Obama’s Call to Service & they gladly stepped up! Join us this Friday at 8:30am at Alamo Park Pavilion in East Austin, learn about the impact of volunteerism & get your hands-on a good project! Sign up at www.handsoncentraltexas.org! United Way & Hands On Central Texas present “Spring Day of Caring” on April 24 Hundreds of volunteers heed President Obama’s call for service, will hear from Austin mayoral candidates before heading out to serve the community Austin, Texas – On Friday April 24, 2009, United Way Capital Area and Hands On Central Texas present the “Spring Day of Caring.” The Day of Caring embodies President Obama’s call for community service, by mobilizing hundreds of volunteers to build a stronger Austin by working on multiple volunteer projects across the city. More than 300 volunteers, including several teams from local corporations, will work at 20 plus project sites throughout Austin, helping many other nonprofits in the process—from upgrading childcare facilities, helping out food banks, graffiti removal and beautifying community gardens, parks to much more. The day starts with guest speakers including Austin mayoral candidates Lee Leffingwell, Brewster McCracken & Carole Keeton Strayhorn, rallying the volunteers and reinforcing how their efforts will make an impact on the greater Austin community. Lee Leffingwell stated “I believe there is very […]

April 16th was the Kick-off press conference for Financial Fitness week (April 20th- April 26th), a consortium of FREE financial literacy classes aimed at giving everyone from teens to seniors the tools to take control of their finances. The press conference was lead by Junior Achievement Board member and volunteer Mike Meroney. Other speakers included Austin City Council Member Brewster McCracken, who read Senator Kirk Watson’s financial fitness proclamation, and Junior Achievement Director of Program Services Christine Kempff. Capital One also presented 4 scholarships totaling $10,000 to middle school and high school students. Applicants were tasked with writing an essay describing the importance of financial literacy. United Way was present during the planning of this initiative and supports it through the 2-1-1 Texas program. To get all the information on the session and also the locations you can call 211 or you can go to financialfitnessaustin.org

Here’s another volunteer project that helps make our community stronger. Volunteers of different faiths are working together to make Austin a better place to live and to help families right now. What’s not to love about that? The Muslim Jewish Work Day is Sunday May 3, 2009 from 9am to 6pm. All faiths are welcome details follow. MUSLIM JEWISH WORK DAYALL FAITHS WELCOME!!SUNDAY MAY 3, 2009 9:00 – 6:00 WORK THE MORNING SHIFT OR AFTERNOON SHIFT OR BOTH WE WILL BE REPAIRING AND PAINTING A HOUSE IN EAST AUSTIN SIGN UP FOR YOUR SHIFT(S) AT; WWW.MYSIGNUP.COM/HANDSONHOUSINGJM • YOU CAN HELP BY SIGNING UP TO VOLUNTEER• HELPING WITH THE POT LUCK LUNCH• DONATING MONEY TO HELP PAY FOR MATERIALS• EVERYBODY IS WELCOME THIS PROJECT IS IN CONJUNCTION WITH AUSTIN AREA INTERRELIGIOUS MINISTRIES, HANDS ON HOUSING, SPRING BLUEBONNET BLITZ http://www.aaimaustin.org/housing.html QUESTIONS? AMANDA QURAISHI the_q@inbox.com CHUCK VORSPAN cvorspan@gmail.com JANE HARDIN jfeigenson@austin.rr.com SPONSORS; Austin Area Interreligious Ministries(to date) Austin Muslim Jewish Community Council Social Action Committee of Congregation Beth Israel Muslim Youth of North America