1. Austin Mayor Steve Adler delivered meals to homebound adults and people with disabilities on March 23. The delivery was part of March for Meals, a community-by-community, nationwide celebration of the Meals on Wheels programs. Dan Pruett, president and CEO of Meals on Wheels and More, accompanied the mayor on his volunteer route. It was the second-consecutive year Adler participated in March for Meals. Last year, Meals on Wheels and More distributed nearly 750,000 meals to area residents who have no way of accessing food on their own, according to the organization. www.mealsonwheelsandmore.org
2. Austin City Council on March 31 approved a collective $800,000 boost in funding to 13 area nonprofits, including Meals on Wheels and More. The charity organizations will receive a 6 percent funding increase as part of an annual review of social service funding to reflect the rising area cost of living. City Council decided in 2014 to review social services for the purpose of increasing funding. www.mealsonwheelsandmore.org
3. MusicTechandFood.org launched its volunteer-based nonprofit services dedicated to fighting hunger in March. The organization partners with local technology companies and the music community to facilitate weekly food drives and community-building events. The mission of MusicTechandFood.org is to inspire and enable people who work in the music and technology industries to fight hunger by donating food and promoting hunger awareness. The organization’s 501(c)(3) application is pending, board member Jake Sussman said. www.facebook.com/musictechandfood.org. Twitter: @MusicTechFood
4. An Austin nonprofit focused on inspiring young Hispanic girls to be successful, Latinitas, held the Code Chica workshop April 16. The app development workshop was led by Women Who Code. The initiative is aimed at introducing primarily low-income, female Hispanic students to app development and careers in technology. During the workshop girls learned how to create, code and market a website for other girls interested in working in the technology sector. Guest speakers at the full-day event included Kathryn Gonzales, founder and CEO of Storyhouse, as well as men and women working in Austin’s tech industry from companies such as Blackbaud Inc., Dell Inc., Rackspace US Inc., Dropbox Inc. and Google Inc. www.laslatinitas.com
Once complete, Community First will become home to about 250 individuals who were homeless and living on the streets of Austin.[/caption]
5. Mobile Loaves & Fishes held an open house event for its upcoming Community First Village on April 2. The event, “Showcase of Micro-Homes,” provided an opportunity for the public to get a peek of Community First Village, a program of MLF. The 27-acre master-planned community provides affordable housing as well as a supportive community for the disabled and chronically homeless in Central Texas. Once complete, Community First will become home to about 250 individuals who were homeless and living on the streets of Austin. www.mlf.org
6. Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers, or HOME, held a garage sale April 8-9. Proceeds from the event went to musicians and entertainers in need. Event volunteers assisted the organization for more than a week. HOME’s mission is to help Austin musicians with housing needs and other assistance. The organization also refers musicians in need to other available resources in the area. Household goods sold at the event included chairs, tables, hampers, file cabinets and electronics. www.homeaustin.org
7. The Capital Area Food Bank will move to a new 135,000-square-foot facility in June. The facility is more than twice the size of its current warehouse and can distribute as much as 60 million pounds of food per year. With double the warehouse space for shelf-stable food, five times the refrigeration and freezer capacity, and a commercial production kitchen to cook meals and freeze produce, the distribution center will allow the CAFB to serve the growing need in Austin and its surrounding area. www.austinfoodbank.org
