Update: I volunteered at HHH for so long because we eventually transitioned into the foster/adopt…read moreprogram as foster parents. Much later, we adopted our kids with their unwavering help. There is no way to explain how hard that process can be, but Helping Hand was the best partner that we could have asked for in the journey. They do their absolute best to ensure you can support the kids that you invite into your house, which is no easy feat. And they hold your hand when it is beyond hard. I highly recommend checking out if they are a right fit for your fostering experience.

I have volunteered at HHH for 6 months now, and each week I go to read to the kids here, I…read moreappreciate the care and effort the entire staff gives to protect, and assist each child here, more and more. This is an incredible haven for children to get the care, therapy, and consistency they need, and I am so grateful to have gotten connected with this volunteer opportunity.

Katherine Saldana She is one of the coldest people I've ever spoken to. She comes across as very…read morecondescending and impatient. If you don't immediately understand her question, she makes you feel unintelligent or small. I only spoke with her a few times over the phone, but every interaction left me feeling uncomfortable and dismissed.

Donate to them instead of scammy nonprofit businesses like Goodwill. They will use it for abuse…read moresurvivors not to resell Easy in and out donation the times I've been there. Remember to check their hours, not open all regular business work days but most

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.

I am incredibly amazed by the lack of empathy and basic human decency displayed by your staff…read more Kicking someone out of your fatherhood class for not attending *one day* after suffering a loss of a family member really makes me question the family values you're trying to promote and the parenting skills you are trying to develop. It is beyond my comprehension how the same people who are advertised as experts in helping parents build relationships with their children and who are supposed to offer guidance through parenting possess so little social intelligence and understanding of the most basic emotions. I don't know if I'm more frustrated, disappointed, or genuinely concerned about the advice you're offering to others if taking some time to cope with the loss of a loved one is an unacceptable violation of your policies. Unbelievable.

Any Baby Can is a wonderful organization that i highly recommend and as a first time mother dealing…read morewith an alcoholic ex and becoming a full time working and single mother, I would have been completely lost without Nurse Rachel. She was there with me since before the birth of my daughter who is now 20 months old. She has been a shining light of hope and with me throughout this experience with My ex and helped me with lots of advice and books to read and resources to help me along through everything! Part of my inspiration to go back to school for nursing is because of how wonderful Nurse Racheal is and the Any BAby Can organization. I am beyond grateful and I only hope that my future in nursing allows me to help others in need some day like nurse Rachel and Any Baby Can helped me when I need help the most. I'm happy to report that we are thriving and doing great in-spite of every obstacle along the way. God Bless Everyone who works for Any BAby Can and all of the people they help and continue to help every day!

A wonderful group of individuals who care and work with special needs adults to perfect their art…read moretalent. My son has been attending the Arc of the Arts for four years and has loved every minute of it. They also worked with Facebook to help these individuals learn about computers, be careful when surfing the web and create pages to display their work. This is an awesome program which challenges my son each time he attends.

don't send your children here. incompetent teachers. They don't care about Children with…read moredisabilities. They give away stuff promised. They play favorites. Its really gone down hill.

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!!!!

I love this place. It's a true community for our Austin unhoused neighbors to be a part of and…read moreactively create and maintain. Beautiful vision and execution and much needed elsewhere.

A unique project designed to help the chronically homeless and disabled find affordable and…read moresustainable housing in a loving community. Located on bus route 237 in East Austin this housing center helps to empower those less fortunate by giving them more permanent housing. This 27 acre park is split into a collection of tiny homes and RV trailers in a well curated landscape. Resources like a medical clinic, workshop, community gardens, and memorial area really makes this a special place. It is a faith based organization that is open to people of all faiths. Many of the RVs have more permanent structures like a porch that have been built next to them. The tiny homes are incredible with a variety of different floor plans sponsored by local builders and donors. Bathrooms are communal. There is an outdoor movie theater right at the entrance. It feels clean and well decorated with more construction constantly underway. By the far the best part is getting to hear from and connect with current residents about how this unique solution to their problem has resonated with them. It's clear that in addition to providing material needs, the people running this place care about the residents here. This business model of using tiny homes to combat homelessness was written up by CNN. In addition to donating financially, you can also help build. I applaud the efforts underway here and am excited for how this place will continue to help people in need in the future.

I volunteered at Inside Book Project tonight and it was a great experience! IBP is a volunteer led…read morenon profit organization that provides free books to people incarcerated in the state of Texas. All of the books provided are free of charge! You read letters for book request, curate a small package of books found in IBPs library and write a letter to send back to each person. This is a really awesome way to provide support to all kinds of humans, who've been through all kinds of challenges. The 30 minute volunteer orientation was thorough and informative! They have volunteer time slots on Sundays and Thursday starting at 6pm! I hope you consider volunteering! I'll definitely be back to volunteer again.

I just started volunteering with IBP and have loved the experience so far! My boyfriend and I found…read moreIBP at an event at Meanwhile Brewing Co maybe a month ago and immediately signed up for an orientation training session. IBP is located in East Austin, housed inside of a church (although IBP is NOT a religiously affiliated organization). They have a huge library built on donations from the community. Every Thursday and Sunday evening, volunteers come to read letters from people incarcerated all over Texas, match them with books, and write handwritten letters back to them. It's truly such a wonderful initiative. People who are incarcerated have the opportunity to request books every 2-3 months and get books sent to them completely free of charge. IBP received around 1500 letters requesting books per month, which is so incredible. If you are someone who enjoys volunteering, this is the place for you! If you don't have the time to volunteer, consider donating to IBP!