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Stories of Community Support More Stories of Community Support Images Shine of African American Family Wholeness
Positive portrayals of African American families are so often missing in the media. The images in Narvell Reed’s art shine a light on the goodness, strength, and wholeness of the African American experience. Narvell’s dream is to share this beauty with a larger audience and invite others to offer their stories as well. Her artistic philosophy lies in a quote from author Alice Walker – “Artists are but messengers, and on them lies the responsibility of uniting the world.” Bread for the Journey of Austin is supporting Narvell’s work to “unite the world” with a grant of $1,000 to help her create the Austin African American interactive website, Souls of Seven. Souls of Seven will feature art and stories of African American families in their wholeness, with links to other uplifting sites. Narvell envisions that these alternative images of the African American family will help unite the community with a shared vision of positive strength and wholeness. Breaking it Down! When the City of Austin adopted a Zero-Waste Plan to reduce the amount of waste that gets sent to the landfill by 90%, the timing seemed perfect for Jeff Paine and Melanie MacFarlane to launch their dreamchild - Break it Down! As Jeff and Melanie describe it, “Our vision is a decentralized composting system that serves local businesses while simultaneously providing educational composting programs for schools and local residents.” Break it Down’s composting classes promote composting as a way for positively dealing with waste, while improving soil quality to a growing community of gardeners. Promoting backyard composting also helps slow climate change by keeping waste out of landfills, thereby reducing methane and carbon emissions, which is right in line with the city's Zero-Waste Future plan. Break it Down's educational efforts will also serve schools, educators, and students by integrating composting curriculum into classrooms. They are already at work on a school composting program to help students create and manage composting systems for their cafeteria. Bread for the Journey of Austin was happy to support this project with a $1000 grant to purchase their first trailer, business cards, and compost collection bins. La Fuente (“Fountain”) Quenches Thirst for Knowledge
In a city with an estimated 300,000 Spanish-speakers, local non-profit La Fuente sponsors Austin’s only GED preparation program offered in Spanish. Presently, about 20 students participate in the weekend program to help them master the five subject areas that they will be evaluated on for their GED. The demand for the GED-preparation class is so high that two additional classes will soon be offered on the weekends. The teacher, Susana Trujeque, is an immigrant herself who is inspired to help others make a successful transition to this country. She told Bread for the Journey, “I believe that I am here to offer my service and to believe in the people I meet who are seeking support to realize their hopes and to advance them.” Bread for the Journey of Austin was happy to give the program $1,000 to help purchase supplies such as scientific calculators, books, test guides, and computer software. GALS Support Mothers in Need
Brigid Dodson is a nurse and mother with a heart for assisting women who have no one to support them during childbirth. Numerous clinical studies have found that having a doula – or a knowledgeable, experienced companion – present at birth tends to result in shorter labors with fewer complications and reduces the need for pain medication, epidurals, cesareans, and other medical interventions. In addition, women with this support are less likely to experience post-partum depression, feel greater support and self-esteem, and have more success with breastfeeding. To offer every woman this support, Brigid founded GALS (Giving Austin Labor Support) http://givingaustinlaborsupport.org/. The program, offered at a local hospital, trains volunteers, similar to doulas, on how to offer support and comfort to women who have no one with them during this critical time. Bread for the Journey of Austin was pleased to provide a grant of $1,000 to purchase uniforms for the volunteers, training guides and supplies. The program is now expanding to serve women in prison, young women at Gardner Betts Juvenile Detention Center and women at the family detention center for seekers of political asylum. As GALS continues to strategically reach out to women in need they realize their core belief that “Every woman deserves to have nurturing care during their childbirth experience.” Truth Be Told Women inmates at a prison in Lockhart, Texas are learning to face the truth of their past, develop a deeper sense of personal responsibility, and embrace the hope of their future through Truth Be Told, an organization which encourages self expression among inmates. Semester-long classes teach the women public speaking, writing and performance art skills as a way of examining their life stories. They also explore their own personal creativity through workshops with visual artists, singers, musicians and dancers. Classes end with a graduation ceremony where participants creatively tell their stories to an audience of 25 guests. Bread for the Journey of Austin gave Truth Be Told a $1,000 grant to help them expand the program to other prisons in Texas. The money helped develop a curriculum tool-kit that volunteers in other prisons to can use to organize and conduct a Truth Be Told program. The goal is to expand the program to 12 different women's prisons. Thanks to BFJ in Austin, the organization is on its way! www.truth-be-told.org Auto Repair Project of Austin
The Auto Repair Project of Austin (ARPA) provides free car repair to Austin residents in need. Most referrals come from Safe Place of Austin, a local woman’s shelter, and Family Eldercare, a nonprofit organization that provides a range of free services to older adults and people with disabilities. ARPA's vision also includes community convergence and inspiration, as they partner with another local organization, Southwest Key, in order to start a mentoring program for at-risk teens with an interest in car repair. ARPA’s diverse membership includes car mechanics, lawyers, students, and stay-at-home moms who all come together to fix a vehicle and serve each other. With a $1000 grant from Bread for the Journey, ARPA is able to purchase parts and materials for some of its very first repairs. The success of these initial projects will generate the member enthusiasm needed to grow, fund, and fully organize ARPA into an effective and sustainable community service. Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition Since its inception in 2006, the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC) has been committed to achieving dignity, equality and respect for Austin’s immigrant community and to achieving recognition by the city of the contributions of immigrant families to its diversity and vitality. While the Coalition has organized numerous mass rallies and marches, their vibrant and enthusiastic coordinator, Caroline Keating Guerra, saw the need for a sustained movement that would be able to retain the groups and individuals who participate in them. Toward this end, the Coalition was granted $500 by Bread for the Journey of Austin to develop a website that would provide information to potential members, enabling them to build their base and effectively carry out their mission. Austin Bat Cave
Austin Bat Cave (ABC) is a new nonprofit organization providing children and teenagers, ages 6-18, with opportunities to develop their creative and expository writing outside of the classroom. They connect a diverse population of young writers and learners with a vibrant community of adult volunteers in Austin. On June 1st, they moved into their first home after an initial year of offering workshops with various host organizations scattered around the city. With a $1000 grant from Bread for the Journey, they renovated a beautiful space to meet their needs. They also purchased worktables and painting supplies, set up a communications infrastructure for their new office, and decorated a "storefront" reading/breakout area with pillows and rugs. A weeklong summer program will serve 40 kids and feature guest workshops from local novelists, poets, playwrights, and screenwriters, as well as a major journalism component in partnership with Texas Monthly. Uplift Austin Founded by Gina LaMotte, Uplift Austin is an innovative, multi-disciplinary program that takes the form of an elective course in Austin’s most impoverished high schools. Uplift Austin invites a team of design professionals and university students representing the fields of landscape design, interior design, green building and public art to introduce students to the world of design while planning and implementing a colorful and eco-friendly renovation of their own school. Youth will be empowered as leaders and change agents in their community while gaining skills in the growing field of green building and design. “Having spent the last eight years working in impoverished communities throughout developing countries and in the U.S.; I had come to consciously recognize the effect dismal spaces had on people’s health and self-esteem. I began developing my own venture which marries the issues most important to my heart: community empowerment, education, sustainable living and the advancement of public arts and beauty.” Bread for the Journey of Austin wholeheartedly supports Gina’s passion and winning combination by contributing $1000 to assist Uplift Austin in creating a website to garner online donations and support. Giving Voice to Promising Young Leaders
“The CIPHER – Austin’s Hip Hop Project” provides training, exposure to the Austin music industry, and other new experiences for youth living in educationally and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in East Austin. The founders’ vision is to help develop young leaders, writers, spoken-word and Hip-Hop artists, with the intent of strengthening these communities in various ways. The teachers themselves grew up here, and found ways to make their voices heard through the arts. The project has recruited 25 young adults (ages 15-21), mostly referred by probation officers and various social-service organizations throughout Austin. The skills gained through the program will take them farther in life than they would have thought possible. By engaging the youth in community events, rallies and festivals, and providing opportunities to meet with committed mentors, musicians, poets, and community leaders, they will establish positive relationships, develop new coping skills, and create their own opportunities in culturally relevant ways. Bread for the Journey of Austin was delighted to support the production of the Project’s first CD with a $1000 grant. The Power of Hats, Hair and Heart
As a breast cancer survivor and the founder of the Breast Cancer Advocacy, Awareness, and Outreach Center, Deborah Duncan Hurdle had a long-held dream to host Austin’s First Cultural Showcase of Hats, Hair, and Health in September 2008. With the African American population disproportionately affected by Breast Cancer, this Showcase will celebrate the cultural interlacing of hats, hair, and health, while raising awareness of the need for self-exams, mammograms, and the community supports that are available to those in need. Bread for the Journey of Austin was proud to grant $1000 in order to assist Deborah with this worthwhile endeavor. A Sanctuary for Seniors Ms. Ethyl Sharp describes the Senior Program at St. John’s Community Center in Northeast Austin as “The United Nations.” The program has a history of “caring and sharing … a place where peace abounds … because of its diversity, it should be a model for all America to see.” Bread for the Journey of Austin supported Ethyl’s vision for a garden sanctuary, providing $500 for benches, birdfeeders, and shrubs to complement the raised garden beds where seniors cultivate vegetables and herbs to share with others. “All are welcome to this sanctuary,” as Ms. Sharp proclaimed. ”Love is the warden” at 7500 Blessing Avenue in Austin. Summer of Safety program
Mona Gonzalez, Founding Director of River City Youth Foundation, has worked for over 20 years to revitalize and reclaim one of Austin’s most challenged neighborhoods. In the summers of 2005 and 2006, the Dove Springs neighborhood lost two youths to violent shootings. Mona’s response, which caught the eye of Bread for the Journey of Austin, was to organize neighborhood churches and residents into an Interfaith Group called DOVE (Directing our Vision Ecumenically). DOVE’s aim was to bring hope to the neighborhood and erase the stigma of an area plagued with the reputation of violence. As Bread for the Journey of Austin was conducting outreach to seek out visionary neighborhood leaders, Mona Gonzalez quickly came to mind. We visited the “ Success Center” she established that offers wrap-around services to families and youth in particular. It was humming with children and community members. Mona requested funds to expand their “Summer of Safety” program to one of the churches involved in organizing DOVE, so that “at promise” youth could find shelter and support to realize their potential. Bread for the Journey of Austin granted $500 to purchase supplies for the new Summer of Safety site at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church. KPWR – The People Will Radio KPWR — The People Will Radio — is an urban community web-based radio project, providing a safe space for local under-represented members of the community for the dissemination of information and entertainment that is not readily available to the public. They use web radio to empower each other and provide a forum for grass-roots community programming, focusing on issues of local interest to teach, learn, and inform their listeners and contributors while sharing this experience with the global community. KPWR strives to provide that forum for a diversity of voices within their community. KPWR requested $300 from Bread for the Journey of Austin so they could get their message out to people in the surrounding area. The grant was used to have bumper stickers, posters, and t-shirts printed, which would then be given away at neighborhood and community events. The Rhizome Collective The Rhizome Collective in Austin, Texas, is recognized nationally as a model for grass-roots urban sustainability. Their interest is in addressing environmental concerns as well as social justice issues. A widely varied group of organizations function under their umbrella, using the Rhizome facility for meetings, events, and a workspace. These organizations include The Inside Books Project, Food Not Bombs, The Residents’ Collective, Bikes Across Borders, KPWR—The People Will Radio, The Indy Media Center, Art Reach, as well as several individual members. Their request to Bread for the Journey of Austin was for $300 to fund the conversion of a small space on their site into an office to be used by all of these organizations. Recycled and used equipment was purchased, including a computer, a filing cabinet and a desk. When the office was completed, regular office hours were established, so that members of the various organizations could make use of the photocopier, phone line, computer and files. Immediately upon completion, the Rhizome Office and Welcome Center was in regular use. Dharma Punx
An Austin writer and philanthropist extraordinaire, Spike Gillespie’s most recent contribution to our community was the creation of the Office of Good Deeds, which is “all about promoting sharing, healing and the practicing of good deeds all around the world.” We at Bread for the Journey of Austin contacted Spike feeling that she might know of someone with an inspiring vision we might fund, or that she might be incubating another one herself. Having experienced some painful personal losses, she responded to our inquiry, saying “Your email came on the heels of my direct plea to the universe asking for help in recognizing the abundance in my life. Thanks for answering.” Spike suggested we consider supporting Dorje Spragens, co-founder of Austin Dharma Punx “Dorje is serving many people in our community who really need it. I myself have felt profound relief from my grief after attending his meetings. The place serves a lot of recovering addicts and people seeking personal peace. Their hope is to contribute to a greater peace through mindfulness and meditation.” Dorje was raised by practicing Buddhists in the 1970’s in Colorado. One of his boyhood friends, Noah Levine, had a similar upbringing, yet both young men rejected the faith tradition in which they were raised and went down a long path of what Dorje described as nihilism, drugs, punk rock, etc. Eventually each of them made his way back to the spiritual path. Now living in Los Angeles, Noah Levine is a counselor and author of the book Dharma Punx. Recognizing the need to bring Noah’s approach to Austin, Dorje began offering Buddhist meditation and discussion at a local coffeehouse. He hoped to have 2-10 people attend the first meeting, however more than 40 actually showed up. Dorje explained that — since many of them are in some stage of recovery — they might feel intimidated by the more established and formal centers for Buddhist teaching in Austin. Spike Gillespie suggested one more project for us to consider – one that dovetailed beautifully with Austin Dharma Punx as she shared the following story, we began to see the way in which a whole community becomes woven together. It unfolds like a classic Bread for the Journey story, in several parts, as follows. As Spike explains, “I know a young woman named Blossom who came to me years ago asking for help with her grief. Her mother, a woman devoted to meditation, had died when Blossom was so young that she could not remember her. Yet her mother had left her a sewing machine. Together we worked on healing Blossom’s grief by making a quilt for another student whose mother had just died. During the quilt-making process, I met and fell in love with Blossom’s father. We married, so she became my step-daughter. Sadly, my marriage did not last due to the difficulties of blending a family. However, I hoped to rebuild a bridge with Blossom. I have been helping her teach a sewing camp for kids since she is an excellent seamstress. My dream is to acquire a small amount of money to pay Blossom and a few friends to sew the zafus (cushions) for Austin Dharma Punx and, if there's any money left, to buy some copies of Noah's book for the meditators.” Cecilia Berner and Cathey Capers — both board members of Bread for the Journey of Austin — met with Spike, Dorje and Blossom to discuss the potential grant. As the story unfolded, Cecilia shared with Blossom about her own program, a micro-enterprise project in her native Brazil called, “I Believe in You.” They provide loans to women to purchase sewing machines so they can make their own living, thus lifting them out of poverty. As she listened intently, Blossom became excited by the idea of making the zafus and could see the value in her sewing skills. As Spike later said to Cathey, “I really think that in listening to you, Cecilia and Dorje yesterday, Blossom had a chance to reflect on the bigger picture of life and how we’re all connected.” Bread for the Journey of Austin is honored to support this healing project that builds on the generosity of Spike, Dorje, Blossom, and the Office of Good Deeds with a grant of $1,000. Posada Esperanza: The Women’s Empowerment Project
Patti McCabe is one of those special young people who wears her enthusiasm and positive energy on her sleeve. As the very hands-on director of Posada Esperanza ( Hope Inn), she has built a home-like environment to shelter immigrant women and children in Austin, Texas. Patti recognized the need to create an opportunity for the women, many of whom are victims of domestic violence, to come together to create a future free of violence for their families. The Women’s Empowerment Project aims to do just this through education, healing, and support. Patti turned to several of the former residents — women who have “shown us their courage to bring their families to safety, access their rights, and support their peers in recognizing that each person is worth being treated with dignity and respect.” These guests will share their experiences while videos and PowerPoint presentations will be used to impart information, provide perspective, and initiate discussion. The grant from Bread for the Journey of Austin of $900 will provide the videos, educational handouts, and incentives to make this valuable educational workshop a reality for the resident women and children. As women transition to the larger community they will carry this education and empowerment with them. Florence’s Comfort House
The primary mission of Florence’s Comfort House (FCH) is to provide a safe haven for the children of Montopolis, a neighborhood where families confront poverty, unemployment, drugs, prostitution and violence on a daily basis. Children receive a variety of services including meals, snacks, books, educational materials and outings. The children learn to give back by helping elderly neighbors, caring for stray animals, and performing other community services. FCH also assists other neighborhood residents including the elderly, teens and adults who are going through temporary difficulties. The Austin Chapter of Bread for the Journey felt very privileged to help FCH establish a new project which will help a group of women in the community teach neighborhood youth how to sew. As the older youth learn, they will in turn mentor the younger ones. A grant of $1,000 will fund the purchase of two sewing machines and all related supplies. The project will not only serve to pass on a useful life-long skill but will also strengthen the bond among the women and youth in the community, while bolstering the self-esteem of all involved.
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