PAST LIGHTHOUSES

The Maywald family has raised over $320,000 for Make-A-Wish Central & South Texas through their annual Christmas light display, helping grant more than 40 wishes since 2015. The Maywald family has achieved remarkable success in their efforts to support Make-A-Wish Central & South Texas through their annual Christmas light display. Since 2015, they have granted 35 wishes and raised over $350,000. Their passion for Christmas lights inspired them to create this display back in 2015, and they have grown increasingly impressive each year. Their son, Jordan personally builds most of the display pieces by hand, and in 2022, the family hung an astonishing 300,000 lights. The Maywald’s light display is free to the Austin community, and they only ask attendees make a donation to Make-A-Wish Central and South Texas whose mission is to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. The Maywald’s goal is to create something that everyone

For almost 20 years, SCARE for a CURE has hosted an annual “Haunted Adventure” to raise money for the Breast Cancer Resource Center, raising over half a million dollars to date. Founded in 2007, SCARE for a CURE is an all-volunteer organization that hosts a Haunted Adventure each Fall whose proceeds primarily go Austin’s Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC). The Haunted Adventure is an interactive experience offered to the public with a different storyline each year and takes about 8 weeks of pre-production, followed by 11 showings. In addition to the Haunted Adventure, SCARE for a CURE puts on an annual Quest Night in the Spring, which is an interactive medieval adventure-volunteers spend hours writing original quests, creating new combats that are solved by rolling giant dice and creating puzzles for teams to solve. This event takes 6-8 weeks of pre-production, followed by 8 run nights. The proceeds from their

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