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Local charities you endorse


Johnny Sack

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Want a positive thread.  Anyone have any local charities that do a lot of good in the community they endorse, support, recommend?

My wife and I were invited to a breakfast this morning to inform about and raise funds for Agape Development in Houston.  I was blown away by this group (and I sit on the board of our family foundation that receives all sorts of grant requests so I’ve sat through a lot of these).  
 

This guy started it 17 years ago.  It’s in the Old Spanish Trail part of Third Word.  Christian based. They work to provide affordable housing, job training, and other outreach to the community.  They are building 80 houses this year.  They buy lots. And then find people in neighborhood who are paying rent to upgrade to a nice house and the mortgage and tax are equivalent to the rent they were paying.  They want to make this work so it does not get gentrified.  
 

The director and his wife are white.  They walk the walk. They moved in the neighborhood and raised their family there back in 1998.  I think he made some money in business and then left the rat race to pursue this endeavor.  
 

I was pretty fired up when I left.  It’s modeled on a program that has done a lot of good in Lawndale in Chicago. This is one of the better ones I have ever seen.  I reviewed their IRS filing and it’s legit. 
 

Anyone else here have anything local they really think is a good outfit?

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FACES. Foundation for Autism care and awareness. Raises money for ABa therapy for young children whose families can’t afford it. If you don’t know about ABA it’s very cost prohibitive, (even with insurance) but makes a huge difference for kids when they start early.

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And by the way--not at all local, but water.org has incredibly low overhead and does really critical work worldwide.  Clean water is one of those very basic things that are needed for any development, but it is in really short supply in large parts of the world.  Water.org expands water infrastructure in the developing world through low-interest loans and other financial tools.  Given the cost of installing infrastructure in the developing world and the enormous reduction in disease that results from clean drinking water, you get a huge bang-for-your-buck with them.

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49 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Central Texas Food Bank.  Donate and volunteered. 

Same as well as Meals on Wheels Waco.

My wife used to work with at risk college students.  People sleeping in cars, in abusive relationships etc.  

They had a fund to help people who needed help immediately like food or diapers baby or baby formula or whatever.  We contributed to that to help keep it funded.

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My father started this: https://www.facebook.com/BIBLE-Connection-INC-896842657329230/?ref=page_internal, all of the proceeds from his business I ran from 2019-2020 went to purchase Bibles for populations that had too few literate readers to have Bibles made by the Gideons. I am a Christian, but pale in comparison to my parents. However, my mother and I donate heavily through our non-profit to https://lifetoday.org/outreaches/water-for-life/. It is James Robison's ministry that drills almost a well per day in Africa. Clean water is probably the greatest preserver of life that can be provided. 

When my father died, a Church in Belize that my father had heavily funded, had their song leaders come and sing at his funeral. His bass is the pride of a guy he gave it to, in Serbia. 

This is a great thread. Matthew 25:40-45

CHIEF

 

 
Edited by CHIEF
Sorry, I see you said local.
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In Dallas:

https://www.familyplace.org/ helps victims of domestic violence and their families by giving them a safe place to stay until a permanent option can be found.

https://thestewpot.org/ helps the homeless in downtown Dallas by providing meals, a safe haven to get a meal and essentials, has a free clothes closet to help their clients find necessities. They also provide basic necessities for their clients such as a post office address so they can get mail and sign up for work, dental care, and a health clinic. 

 

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There are fewer options for disabled kids in my area compared to other school districts (my niece in 602 has options we don't here, for example) so I've been volunteering to fundraise and support such a school. Org is Downs Syndrome Coalition of El Paso.

 

School website (https://everylittleblessing.org/) if you know anybody in the 915 with prospective students, teachers, or volunteers (edit or donors). Our big fundraiser* is October 1st .

 

 

 

 

* 1,000 person outdoor bbq as if I really care about downs kids

Edited by GringoSalado
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In Waco…

talithakoum.org

 

Talitha Koum takes kids from newborn to 5 years old from broken homes and ensures they are fed, taught and loved.    Primarily from broken homes, imprisoned parent homes, and such.  It’s a great organization and I support them wholeheartedly.  
 

I also do a lot of work for Shriners’ and Scottish Rite hospitals as I’m a Shriner and Scottish Rite Mason, but I was also treated at the Scottish Rite hospital as a kid.  So I’m doing my part to pass it forward in that manner.  

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CASA.  Court Appointed Special Advocates.

https://www.casatravis.org/

These are volunteers who advocate in court, school, and in the community for abused and neglected kids who are in state-care.  These are trained volunteers, appointed by judges, who make real-world decisions and issue recommendations to judges that have immediate and direct results on the lives of the most vulnerable kids right here in our community.  

They are a worthy charity for your money and if you have a job or any training that is even remotely related to the welfare of people or dealing with judges and the legal system.... ahem... like lawyers for example... they are a worthy charity for your time.

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I've been a member of the Touchdown Club of Dallas since 2017. It's a men's service organization whose sole purpose is to raise funds to help operate the Ashford Rise School of Dallas, an inclusive school for kids aged 6 months to 6 years with and without developmental disabilities. Former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings started The Rise School program for his son Johnny, who had Down Syndrome. Many of the kids at Rise have Down Syndrome.

At any rate, the TDC hosts a half-dozen or so charitable events throughout the year where 100% of the proceeds go to the Rise School's annual operating budget. The Ashford Rise School is in the Park Cities YMCA building. Our current 17-man Newman class has raised over $750K (new class record) collectively since last September. Our next event is coming up 5/21 on the steps of the Cotton Bowl where we'll host the 8th Annual Big Texas BBQ with music from Gary P. Nunn. This is a rib-and-appetizer cook-off that has grown from "just have fun and break even guys" nine years ago to raising over $100K in 2021. I'm the chairman for this year's event and would love to see any Dallas Surly-ites in May. Celeb judges include Tootsie Tomanetz and Daniel Vaughn and many others. We just got word that Fletcher's will be on hand as well.

GA tickets are $50 and includes alcoholic beverages all day long. Not a bad deal. Lots of sponsorship opportunities still available, namely VIP tables for $1500 (10 tickets).

https://tdclubdallas.org/

https://www.ymcadallas.org/locations/moody_family_ymca/child_care/the_rise_school

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/8th-annual-big-texas-bbq-tickets-269130505587

 

 

Big Texas BBQ 2022.jpeg

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5 hours ago, mdmost said:

In Dallas:

https://www.familyplace.org/ helps victims of domestic violence and their families by giving them a safe place to stay until a permanent option can be found.

https://thestewpot.org/ helps the homeless in downtown Dallas by providing meals, a safe haven to get a meal and essentials, has a free clothes closet to help their clients find necessities. They also provide basic necessities for their clients such as a post office address so they can get mail and sign up for work, dental care, and a health clinic. 

 

My company does events with of these every few months. General fyi but the homeless folks I have taken to ask for socka and underwear more than anything in my experience. 

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6 hours ago, Anastasis said:

They are very transparent about their finances, but please feel free to provide substantive critique: https://mlf.org/us/financials/

image.thumb.png.d48e327c01ea6caf26666dba2650fe7c.png

 

My apologies.  I cannot fucking read.

I was (attempting and failing) at joking about the milf.org joke.  I did not intend to disparage a legit operation.

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In Austin

https://helpinghandhome.org

 

Helping Hand Home for Children is a local organization providing care for victimized children facilitating foster training, certification, and placement, foster to adopt placements, residential treatment, and other services. I’ve been continuously involved with this organization since adopting my son & daughter, two siblings in danger of being split up in the system. They are a first class organization that does incredible and much needed work for Texas children in need of therapeutic care and safe, loving, and stable homes.

 

Edited by Whitewater Horn
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I have a friend fighting in Ukraine right now and I have sent him money for equipment.

He is former Ukranian military and had left to start a nice business. It was bombed by the Russians and he is now fighting as a volunteer in Kyiv. He has a zelle account so you can very easily send him money. If anyone is interested we are trying to raise money to send him over some armored plates. Shoot me a PM.  

Edited by ATexanAbroad
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Austin:  https://partnershipsforchildren.org/ 

Partnerships for Children (PFC) helps children in the CPS system and the caseworkers who support them.  

Sidenote: Cover 3 and Cover 2 restaurants have an appetizer ("PFC Chipotle Ranch Fried Pickles") that sends $1 to PFC for every order.  The Cover 3 owners are huge supporters of PFC.

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13 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Helping Hands had an Amazon wish list they kept up. I bought a bunch of stuff off of it for Xmas a few years ago. I can’t seem to find it though.

First of all, thank you and anyone who has contributed gifts or money to HHH. The amount of gifts purchased by donors each year is of a staggering and humbling amount of generosity. I’ve been on both sides of it. Before my kids cleared all of the legal hurdles to become adopted, they were still foster children through HHH and had made wish lists before I took them in. When our case manager came for our December visit that year, she asked me to come out to her van after the kids went to bed. We brought in at least five 96 gallon bags full of wrapped gifts from their small wish list and so much more. It was overwhelming. I had never been on the receiving end of charity to that degree. I still get choked up recalling the emotion of that moment. I didn’t want to create an expectation of such a shamefully excessive bounty of gifts and ruin the beauty of the spirit of giving, so me and my now ex-wife made the decision to keep only a fraction of those gifts and donated the rest to other charities that hadn’t fared as well as HHH with donations. 
 

Since adopting them, I’ve been on the donating and volunteering side. Helping organize and deliver the gifts and spending time with the kids is one of the best things we do every year. I also talk to families going through foster training and with those considering adoption. My kids, now high school aged, like to come with me and also share their stories on the ways that adoption and having a forever family changed their lives. It’s awesome that so many people give money and gifts, but what they need most are people. If you know anyone in Central Texas interested in fostering or foster to adopt, please consider Helping Hand Home.  Thanks again to anyone who has supported HHH and other organizations to help children in need of safe homes and loving care. 

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15 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Want a positive thread.  Anyone have any local charities that do a lot of good in the community they endorse, support, recommend?

My wife and I were invited to a breakfast this morning to inform about and raise funds for Agape Development in Houston.  I was blown away by this group (and I sit on the board of our family foundation that receives all sorts of grant requests so I’ve sat through a lot of these).  
 

This guy started it 17 years ago.  It’s in the Old Spanish Trail part of Third Word.  Christian based. They work to provide affordable housing, job training, and other outreach to the community.  They are building 80 houses this year.  They buy lots. And then find people in neighborhood who are paying rent to upgrade to a nice house and the mortgage and tax are equivalent to the rent they were paying.  They want to make this work so it does not get gentrified.  
 

The director and his wife are white.  They walk the walk. They moved in the neighborhood and raised their family there back in 1998.  I think he made some money in business and then left the rat race to pursue this endeavor.  
 

I was pretty fired up when I left.  It’s modeled on a program that has done a lot of good in Lawndale in Chicago. This is one of the better ones I have ever seen.  I reviewed their IRS filing and it’s legit. 
 

Anyone else here have anything local they really think is a good outfit?

Kirk, and his wife Amanda, are lifelong friends of mine. Agape is a GREAT nonprofit doing wonderful things for their neighborhood in Houston. 

Kirk's parents are UT grads. His brother is also, and was my roommate for a majority of our time in Austin.

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1 hour ago, jkates said:

Kirk, and his wife Amanda, are lifelong friends of mine. Agape is a GREAT nonprofit doing wonderful things for their neighborhood in Houston. 

Kirk's parents are UT grads. His brother is also, and was my roommate for a majority of our time in Austin.

My wife and I, as well as some church friends, are going to be volunteering and supporting financially this organization. We were blown away. Going to try and get my family foundation and other people I know with foundations to chip in.

Talked to a friend who was on the board of Agape for 10 years or so and still is a big supporter. He told me that what Agape wants to do is find the next OST neighborhood and create similar housing and community initiatives in other parts of town. (They will of course remain in OST and keep up all their work there).

Edited by Johnny Sack
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In a timely fashion, Helping Hands is collecting donations for Easter baskets for the kids right now.  They have an Amazon wishlist for it. I just bought some stuff from it. However, since the list I had was specific for my employer, I can't share the list to the public. I'm sure if you call Helping Hands, they'll provide you with a public list.

  

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7 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

My wife and I, as well as some church friends, are going to be volunteering and supporting financially this organization. We were blown away. Going to try and get my family foundation and other people I know with foundations to chip in.

Talked to a friend who was on the board of Agape for 10 years or so and still is a big supporter. He told me that what Agape wants to do is find the next OST neighborhood and create similar housing and community initiatives in other parts of town. (They will of course remain in OST and keep up all their work there).

Not to take away from that, but I’ll relate some experience. I spent probably 60 hours at CTFB volunteering.  My company, along with sponsoring a local middle school does that, but I liked enough to volunteer extra shifts.  It’s extremely manual labor. You grab and sort things, put them on pallets, and some folks take the rejected stuff to compost or recycle bins.  Spending 5 or 6 hours making boxes is a beating.  Something else,  a lot of people who are charged with doing community service do this work.  They do it and actually like it at the end. It’s meaningful.  In other words a lot of people doing mandatory community service end up there.  They go thru the process and end up coming back on their own, because it’s a great organization.  

Edited by Judge Roybeanbag
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