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! ;)

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!

Call the number and you get a recording, be ready to write cuz they will give you a list of names…read moreand numbers of the volunteers. Call and let them know what your needs are and see if they can help. They can help you get to medical appointments if needed. They can help with other things. And they have a surplus of medical equipment that you can "borrow" such as canes, wheel chairs, walkers, braces. They offer a great service. Return the items when no longer needed. They survive on donations. https://www.facebook.com/Lagovistavolunteersinc/

Casa Marianella is an amazing organization dedicated to helping asylum seekers. They serve seeking…read morecommunities in the form of radical hospitality. When volunteering with the staff and people at Marianella, you can feel how they strive for acceptance and community. They are very knowledgeable about their work. This as a whole is what makes them an enjoyable and interesting volunteering opportunity.

Casa Marianella is a non profit that serves asylum seekers directly everyday by providing shelter…read moreand other services. They serve in every way possible to help people get on their feet. I have seen lots of success coming from Casa! I have nothing but good to say because that is all I have seen. I have volunteered for them.

A Tale of Two Entities…read more Useful: 1. Settlement Home: Helps young girls who were abused have a place to live and thrive. It's a great nonprofit residential center that I hope no one on Yelp ever has a chance to use. 2. Settlement Home Garage Sale: At Palmer Events Center the first weekend in November. Friday you have to pay to get in. Don't bother. Saturday, it's free and it's a great day to scout out the merchandise and buy things you just can't go without. Sunday, the morning is pretty picked over, but the afternoon is the highlight of the whole thing. At a certain hour, they start selling boxes. Get there early, buy one or two boxes, depending on whether you think you can manage it. Plan to be trampled, nudged, elbowed, et cetera. Stuff your box as fast as possible and get the hell out. Funny: 1. My freshman year of college, my rooommate worked for Settlement Home, where abused girls get their lives on track. Some have been sexually abused, physically abused, and so on. I really respected that. This same roommate thought it was funny to tell her mom and boyfriend (stationed in Iraq, by the way) that she was pregnant. After he got someone to buy the ring (within 24 hours) and freaked out sufficiently, and her mom went a little nuts, she called both of them back and said, "Just kidding!." I don't respect that at all. 2. The people at the Settlement Home Garage Sale are friggin' animals. After I bought my box, I went to stand in front of the Center. "GET BACK BITCH! I'VE BEEN STANDING HERE FOR 20 MINUTES!" Wow. I stepped back about 10 feet, actually closer to the door. I think I actually got in before this woman. She had two of the largest boxes available, $8 apiece, duct taped together and on a big luggage rack. I went to the art section. She was sweeping entire tables full of frames into her boxes. She swept in a picture I was in the middle of grabbing. "Can I have that please?" "No!" "Are you even looking at what you're taking?' "NO! I JUST CARE ABOUT THE FRAMES, NOT THE ART, STUPID!" Well, she got a really interesting picture of Michaelangelo's "David" in the deal. Lucky lady. Cool: 1. The Settlement Home basically runs off the funds raised by the gigantic garage sale once a year. What a neat concept. But you can donate to them at any time. It's a good cause, really. 2. For a $3 box, I got the following: An antique intercom that doesn't work A bunch of Royal Doulton "Thistledown" bone china (valued at about $15 a plate) 3 novels 2 small framed photos A large framed photo of a broken window A toothbrush holder A citrus zester Two original, one-of-a-kind paintings What a deal!

I stayed at the forsaken place for a year and a half tooooo long!! I can't begin to tell you how…read moredreadful that this place was. I left fifteen years ago on my eighteenth birthday. My first opinion is that, if they still do, the settlement does NOT need to hire people who are basically kids themselves. I used to wonder if the "houseparents" had bad days, which I'm sure they did, we all did. It appeared as though they took their frustration out on the girls who lived there. Everytime you turned around somebody got a consequence for SOMETHING! Damn! I wonder if giving the girls a consequence for something made them feel taller and better about their egos, especially if they personally had a bad day before they got to work. I heard and saw how the "houseparents" used to gather around and talk about how they punished someone and how they had to restrain a girl and then they mentioned what kind of punishment they had given them. I feel I got punished every time I breathed fresh air. Instead of being punished, I felt as though they should have taught me the values of life. What's out there in life and PREPARE me for it!!!! I felt that there was no need to punish someone THAT often. Instead of punishing a girl, damn, get to know their past. See why they what they do, look behind the problem to correct it. A punishment is not going to do it. Work with them slowly. I should never have been in such a place anyway, but that is another story, in which my family and I are in court as we speak against the state for what their CPS worker did when I was eight years old. One of the houseparents told me that I had to be put on birth control, (I was not sexually active at the time), or else I would not be allowed to go anywhere on my own while I stayed there. I gave in and she ordered the birth control: I took the birth control for a month and a half and cheeked the bitch for the remainder of the time there. She never knew it, either. Then she told me that once a girl comes to the Settlement, it would be hard for she to leave it; I often still wonder sometimes if the Settlement home gets "high money" per girl who stays there. No wonder it would be difficult for she to leave unless she runs away. One of the staff had gone to court exactly two weeks before I left the hell hole, two weeks before I turned eighteen. She tried to testify to make me look bad. She told the court all kinds of fake crap and a bunch of lies!! I couldn't believe it, but then again, they are the state employees, which explains why the CPS worker ten years prior to the date did what she did. HEY!! I was trying to get emancipated, which didn't make sense at the particular time because I turned eighteen two weeks later, in which, I still left the hell hole! She couldn't stop me and didn't! My over all opinion of this place is that you people can do better and don't chastise the girls for not having a loving home who want them, they didn't ask to be born. It's not their fault that they are in such a place. Oh, yes, birth control and prozac, they call it, are popular drugs with this home and they have you open your mouth to show them that you swallowed them, but....damn I am good! I cheeked that crap all of its days! Oh!...& there is no need to feel as though you have to threaten me to not tell others that a houseparent was seen at a refund raiser for GAY people...or I would get a "consequence". They forever used that threat. God be with us all!!!!

Rarely can you point to a more deserving organization than El Buen Samaritano when it come to…read morehelping the community. You learn things about your self when you volunteer your time and talents to people who appreciate you. Sign up NOW......yes, right now for their Thanksgiving turkey giveaway as a volunteer. It's amazing what happens to you when you give of yourself.

If you need extremely low cost professional health care, a life affirming volunteer experience, a…read morecomputer skills class, a heaping bag of groceries, a plot in a community garden, psychological counseling, nutritional advice (and seemingly innumerable other free or low cost high quality services) in South Austin, there is one place to go. El Buen is pretty much the most amazing organization out there. The staff is kind, welcoming and clearly passionate about what they do. In short, they rule.

Austin Child Guidance Center provides a professional and caring atmosphere for children and…read morefamilies of all backgrounds to receive therapy. They accept insurance but also have a sliding scale pay option, which I really appreciate. I highly recommend their services!

Staff are knowledgeable, compassionate, and creative. ACGC is the cornerstone child and family…read moremental health organization of central Texas. They now serve young adults up to age 26!

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.