This is a wonderful local organization. My sister lost a child to brain cancer when she was very…read moreyoung. I try to acknowledge her birthday every year by donating to a charity that helps children. I found Pop-Up Birthday, a couple of years ago and fell in love with the concept and after speaking with the director realized this would be a wonderful organization to contribute to. They also are happy to have volunteers so consider a way that you can help. Like most charities they have a year and campaign, and make a goal which for 2018 happens to be to raise $20,000 to celebrate at least 500 more foster children's birthdays in the coming year. One of the best things about this time of the year is the donation matching that occurs so your gift is matched dollar for dollar. I know this is not the normal Yelp content, but many people are concerned and don't know how to check into a charity to make sure that it's not only legitimate but that almost all the money goes directly to support the experience, or concept, or in this case the foster child's birthday. Pop up birthday currently delivers over 20 birthday boxes a week. This helps make a positive memory for these children whose lives have been disrupted in some form or fashion that has led them into the foster care system. I'm hoping the Yelp Team checks this out and confirms the information I'm sharing and allows this site to post, maybe even considering a new category for 2018-"Give Locally". With all the negative things that the one day in day out it's refreshing to be able to focus on something that brings such a positive experience!

Do you ever see those KAB signs along the road and wonder what they are for? KAB stands for Keep…read moreAustin Beautiful and is a nonprofit that helps keep Austin streets and creeks clean and beautiful. KAB is an awesome organization that allows individuals and organizations to adopt a street or creek and clean it up several times a year. Bull Creek is one of my favorite greenbelts so 4 times a year I help clean it up. This year I worked with over 100 4th graders to remove invasive plants and spread Wildflowers. We also educated the kiddos on how litter affects the water and soil and how native plants prevent soil erosion and how important it is to stay on the trails to preserve the natural flora and fauna. KAB is Keeping Austin Beautiful and you should too! It is very rewarding!

Great organization! Kids are very important to KAB! They welcome them as volunteers and provide all…read morekinds of opportunities for them to learn about the environment. We have adopted a creek through KAB which means we agree to clean it up at least 4x a year for 2 years. KAB provides all the supplies we need each time. And they arrange for CoA to come pick up all the trash bags we leave behind. Easy peasy. We do it with a group of kids and their parents. The kids LOVE it. They feel important for doing something good for the Earth and love spending time in nature and always enjoy finding weird stuff and putting it in the trash or recycling where it belongs. Additionally, KAB offers a free camp in the Summer and now only opens it up to their kids who volunteer with them. Can't beat that! We did the camp last year and one day went on the most awesome local tour EVER- The Texas Disposal Systems Landfill. I kid you not. Freakin' awesome!! All the people that work at the KAB office are awesome and truly dedicated. You'd be silly not to go out and adopt a creek or park or SOMETHING right now!! Do your part, people! ;)

I've been volunteering for Drive A Senior for a little over a year. It is such a wonderful…read moreorganization. Jill, Deb and the whole team is incredible. The seniors are also amazing too. Consider donating your time with this organization. Also, if you are considering their services for your loved ones, I would trust them wholeheartedly.

We are a membership community dedicated to helping each other remain at home as we age. We have…read moreeducational, social, and special interest groups to encourage engagement among seniors across Austin. Capital City Village (CCV) welcomes seniors of all kinds for its purpose of supporting aging in place. Members pay dues, but we underwrite the costs for those who want to belong but haven't the means. We have scheduled monthly happy hours and coffee meetings, book clubs, domino groups, mindfulness and Yoga practices, bridge days, and whatever you can imagine. This year, we've studied American foreign policy in the Mid-East, visited Austin's main library by bus, met with a number of local celebrities in an intimate setting at Mort Subite on Congress Avenue, and read a lot of books.

My wife and I spent a few hours here on Sunday. I thought the Palmer Event center was well…read moredecorated and the vendor layout was organized and welcoming. We bought a variety of things, fun ice cube trays at Roks, candy apples (although this vendor seemed quite disengaged and was not welcoming -- but the candied apples were great!), and a few clothing items. My wife thought the jewelry selection and leather goods need an upgrade, but otherwise enjoyed our visit. I thought most of the vendors were appropriately committed to the Christmas/Holiday theme.

This event kicks off a the holiday shopping season with vendors from near and far. Most of the…read moreplaces are geared towards women, home or food - not a lot of stuff for men. They are a mix of home goods, holiday items, clothing, jewelry and food. Giant Christmas tree in the center where everyone stops for a picture. Food and drinks are available if you get munchies or thirsty while you shop. This event is a big fundraiser for the Junior League of Austin so that it helps them support the community.

Better ATX is a great non-profit organization, serving Austin and the surrounding areas. They…read moreprovide clothing for thousands of school children annually, provide toys and encouragement for children at Dell Children's Medical Center 4 days a week, are a huge scholarship donor to ACC students, big supporters of the local schools, and more. They do it all by running the best little Thrift Store in Austin at 4901 Burnet Road. New items every week, beautifully curated and displayed. 100% volunteer run. Come out and support this fabulous organization that is doing so much for our community. Bring your donations, come and shop, or better yet - become a member!

Austin Book Workers (ABW) is a community organization for book artists, calligraphers, and…read moreprinters. It meets once a month from September to May and holds a yearly Book Arts Fair at Laguna Gloria in July. I've attended some amazing lectures at ABW, from Jim Canary ('keeper' of Jack Kerouac's scroll) to experts discussing ancient manuscripts from the Ransom Archive. Membership into this secret society is $12 per year. Check out their website for more information.

The best way to find this nomadic tribe is…read more http://www.meetup.com/bookarts-69/members/ They meet 6 :30pm 3rd Thursdays Sept -May in various studios, libraries, homes, public spaces, print shops and binderies. Started in 1984 by binders, conservators, printers, members of the Guild of Book Workers. The Annual Book Arts Fair introduced many an Austin child to paste paper, letterpress printing, typography, calligraphy, marbled paper, folded signatures, sewn pages, and book binding. Membership is open to anyone wanting to build a book from scratch, re-bind an old book, learn new tricks or hang out with other professionals, amateurs, crafters and self publishers, book lovers all. They ought to raise their membership from $12 a year, or at least have a meeting fee. But they don't.

Background Information: This organization offers housing for women and children who have…read moreexperienced homelessness. Some, not all, participants come from Domestic Violence situations, however, this is not a battered women's shelter. Their website boasts about how wonderful they are, but I am here to tell you it is all smoke and mirrors. I lived at one of the two properties they own so I have first-hand knowledge of how they run the program. The housing program gets housing subsidies from the City of Austin, is a Rental Housing Development Assistance Programs, and has some affiliation with HUD. It's worth noting, this organization had ZERO policies in place for anyone with a disability, which is required by law for an apartment complex. They knew my son was disabled because it was on my application for housing and not once did they ask about what he might need accommodations for. My son and I moved into Saint Louise House's Program April of 2020, right at the peak of COVID. At the time I moved in, we had been homeless for a year, so I was excited to have my own place again. I was quickly disappointed when I found out it had an extremely bad infestation with German Cockroaches that they failed to tell me about until after I moved in. I was told that it was treated recently, but additional treatments could not be provided until businesses started to open up and I understood this. However, I would have preferred to postpone my move instead of dealing with the disgusting roaches for what lasted approximately 8 months. When everything started opening up, management finally got pest control to come in and spray, however, it was just a general spray, not the proper one you need for treating German Cockroaches. For quite some time, I continued to email management letting them know the general sprays were not working and provided numerous pictures of all the roaches. It was at that time I got an email from the then program director stating that Robin Kampermann, the operations director, wanted me to submit a video of the current roach situation because pest control "had just sprayed my unit." By this time, I had sent numerous emails documenting the issue and told her I was under no circumstances going to provide a video. The infestation was so bad, I ended up having to repack my kitchen because the roaches were in my cabinets, refrigerator and in our food. Roaches carry many diseases as well as feces as they travel so roach feces were on my countertops and cabinets, inside the cabinets, my baseboards, floors and wall. This created not only a major health hazard, but a major inconvenience to me and my son, but management still dragged their feet for getting the proper treatments and did not care about the health hazard this caused us. As a result, my son and I ended up having to eat out for EVERY meal which exhausted all my savings of $1000.00. Management did not care one bit and made no resolution to refund my money, despite having all my receipts. I continued to send numerous emails complaining about the roaches and nothing was done about it. I even contacted the chairwoman at the time, of the board of directors for the program, Molly Trexler, to complain and she told me the board did not get involved in such issues. My son, who is disabled, was traumatized by the rampant roaches crawling everywhere, including the walls and floors in our dining room and throughout our kitchen. I called the Austin Tenants Council to see what could be done and was told that it was a reasonable request to move to another unit due to my son's disability. I requested numerous times to move to another unit and was turned down. Management expected me to live in a unit that was a health hazard. Laura Ward, the Executive Director of the program told me it was against their policy to allow tenants to move. She accidentally sent me an email intended for other management employees, and she attempted to recall her email, but was unsuccessful. In this email she stated that she would no longer be responding to my emails regarding this issue and that they should help me relocate somewhere else. Robin Kamperman, the Operations Manager, and bully of the organization essentially refused to provide treatment despite numerous photos of the roaches and feces and email requests I sent. I literally had to raise hell and get the city involved to get this issue resolved. Finally, they got the pest company to do proper treatments, although I was thankful, it was a big inconvenience. All my cabinets had to be wiped down with a particular solution before each treatment and because the treatment was toxic, I could not be in the apartment for 3 hours afterwards. See photos for the rest of the review.

Vincare does great work for our community and everyone here at Integrity Moving is honored to do…read morebusiness with this wonderful foundation! If you know any mothers that are struggling and trying to make it on their own, please call this organization!