PAST LIGHTHOUSES

Combining their love for sewing and for serving veterans, Poppy’s Quilts of Valor in Georgetown has dedicated over 2,000 hours annually for 6 years to honor more than 70 local veterans this past year alone. Poppy’s Quilts of Valor (QOV) was established in 2018 when founder Michelle Bailey purchased Poppy Quilt n’ Sew, and her first mission was to establish a Quilts of Valor chapter for the Austin area. Michelle knows firsthand the impact of war and the sacrifice to serve and defend our freedoms because her grandfather, father and sister all served our country in times of war. A Quilt of Valor is a handmade quilt that is awarded to service members or veterans who have been touched by war. Anyone in a community where there is a QOV chapter can nominate a living veteran or active service member to be presented with a Quilt of Honor and recognition.

For 13 years, Love Serve Feed has been serving up a hot meal and a hug every Saturday The members of Love Serve Feed want to provide the Austin area community with a warm meal and warm hug when they can, as they have done every Saturday since November 2011. Dedicating approximately 2288 hours per year through their volunteers, members of Love Serve Feed have been prepping food, cooking, shopping, picking up donations in addition to their weekly serving and distributing food on Sundays. “We don’t want to be an organization who is just there to provide food,” says co-founder Laurie Winckel. “While that is important, we want to be a community.” To that end, beyond serving food Love Serve Feed provided picnic tables for people to hang out, chat, and play games while also receiving a warm meal. “We want people to feel loved, seen, and we want them

For over 8 years UT Austin students with Seva Charities have worked tirelessly to help provide mid-day meals to children in India, ensuring they can stay in school instead working for their next meal. Seva Charities is a volunteer group comprised solely of students who attend the University of Texas, Austin. Their primary mission is to raise money through Akshaya Patra, an organization that provides mid-day meals to children in India which gives them the opportunity to get an education, rather than working for their food. Seva Charities hosts various fundraising events throughout the year to support Akshaya Patra. This year, they held a Seva Olympics, sold and delivered Potatograms on Valentine’s Day, and hosted an escape room event. Their biggest fundraising event of the year is Saanj, a South Asian gala – attendees at this ticketed event enjoy Indian food, performances by UT’s dance and acapella teams, and dress

For the past 12 years, these military mothers have served alongside their children to support local area military and veterans alike. Blue Star Mothers has been supporting the local area military and promoting patriotism in the Austin area for the past 12 years, raising $6,000 to $10,000 annually through their tentpole event the Gold Star Luncheon. Beyond fundraising, the BSM collects supplies to send care packages to active-duty military, supply materials for Gold Star Families Christmas Camp, place over 1,000 flags during Memorial Day weekend at the Cedar Park Veterans Memorial, and serve as a warm, loving presence at military funerals. As their mission statement reads, Blue Star Mothers is an organization comprised of “mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, foster mothers and female legal guardians who have children serving in the military, guard or reserves, or children who are veterans.” These mothers and female guardians dedicate approximately 2,500 hours annually in service

For over 15 years, students volunteering with the Locker Club have been providing food, clothing and support to their fellow students in schools across Texas giving back over $100,000 per year in goods and services. The Locker started in 2008 as a Service-Learning project for a group of students at Georgetown High School who saw a need to help their fellow students. From there it quickly turned into a weekly club open for all students to join. Today, it has spread to school districts all over the state and includes about 25 different schools, each with their own Locker club. The motto of the Locker is “kids helping kids” and aims to foster a community where all students can feel welcomed and supported. There are no economic or other qualifications to join the club, it is open to all students. “You never know what’s going on behind closed doors” says

For over 7 years, Austin Allies has been supporting nearly 100 local nonprofits through donating materials, volunteer hours, home-cooked meals and support where needed. The idea for Austin Allies stemmed in 2016, when a group of three mothers sat around their kitchen table with their children, looking at the state of the world and hoped to make a change. They saw firsthand the need for more positivity and acts of kindness in the world and began to do that on a local level. They first began by volunteering their time at various organizations in Austin, but had to make a pivot in March of 2020 when the pandemic affected their ability to volunteer in person. This is where their #HelpingFromHome program began. The mission of their #HelpingFromHome program began as a way to support nonprofits from home while it was unsafe to be in person. This program offers a way

For Goodness Cakes serves up special made birthday, graduation, and other cakes for young people who may not have ever had one. Austin got a little sweeter in 2021 when For Goodness Cakes, an organization that delivers birthday, graduation, and other special event cakes and cupcakes to agencies who work with children, opened an Austin chapter. Under the leadership of co-leaders Ashley Presson and Alicia Gacharna the Austin Chapter spends over 600 hours a year baking, decorating, and delivering that special feeling that only a specially made cake can. A standout moment for the organization took place in December of 2023 when one of the local CARY (Council on At-Risk Youth) programs requested cookies for kids of the program to decorate. Many of the children in the program had never been offered an opportunity to decorate holiday cookies before, so the volunteers of For Goodness Cakes started whipping up batches

For decades, the Captain Dillworth Chapter of Military Order of the World Wars has been providing resources to veterans and their families through increasing their access to mental health services, housing, employment and other basic needs. RecognizeGood joined the Military Order of the World Wars Captain Dillworth chapter at their meeting on May 4th to present the group with a certificate and a $1,000 donation for their organization. Special thanks to member Erik Stoeckle for helping coordinate this gathering! The MOWW is an organization that aims to promote national security, patriotism, good citizenship and service to country. The group is comprised of officers of all U.S. federal uniformed services who have come together to not only educate and encourage future generations to be leaders, but also to help serve veterans through providing access to resources they may need. The MOWW has an extensive educational program focused on youth. Each year

For 56 years, the Round Rock Woman’s Club has been enriching women’s lives and giving back to the Round Rock community. The Round Rock Woman’s Club was formed in 1966 in Round Rock, Texas. Initially, it was the brainstorm of member Marge Sheffield. She wanted to start a book club. Instead, the women who came to the first book club meeting in 1966 decided their small town could greatly benefit from a woman’s service organization. As a result, the ladies chartered Round Rock Woman’s Club. It became affiliated with the Federation of Women’s Clubs. The founding members wanted their club to be involved in community service as well as a social outlet for its members. Their first service project was providing brightly decorated trash cans on downtown street corners in Round Rock. At the time, Round Rock’s population was around only 2,000 people. Since then, both the city and the women’s club has

For the past nine years, the official Austin chapter of the Seattle Sea Hawkers Booster Club has raised over $100,000 and dedicated over 6,300 hours to make Austin a better place for children in the spirit of the “12th man.” Since 2014, the Austin Sea Hawkers Booster Club has raised approximately $108,000 for local kids in need. and donated 6,300 volunteer hours with a focus of giving back to kids in their community. The majority of their philanthropic support is dedicated to Partnerships for Children and making sure foster children have presents for the holidays, making their annual Christmas Shopping Event their biggest give-back event. As individuals, members of the Austin Sea Hawkers “adopt” 12 specific foster kids in honor of the Seahawks NFL team’s “12th man,” a popular term in football referring to the intangible energy and spirit generated by fans in the stands or at home. Those individuals