Fresh Start - A New Program of the Assistance League of Austin

Assistance League® of Austin, located at 4901 Burnet Road in Austin is an ongoing partner for Little Green Beans. The mission of Assistance League of Austin is to enable children and adults in the Greater Austin community to achieve a higher quality of life by providing for specific identifiable needs.

Imagine that you have been a foster child in Central Texas and never had the chance to be adopted. You are now 18 years old or graduating from high school getting ready to live on your own. No parents to support you or give you the things you need to start your life as an independent adult. It really happens - to hundreds of young adults in our community. (Owner Sharon has been a foster parent and was touched by the important need this program fills in our local community.)

Established February, 2012. Fresh Start has already provided 35 individualized Life-Kits to foster youth with the Department of Family and Protective Services and Austin Children’s Shelter/Transitional Living Program through referrals. Fresh Start collaborates with other agencies, retail stores, and social service agencies to provide services to foster youth. Fresh Start will coordinate short-term ongoing assistance during the year with Austin Children’s Shelter/Transitional Living Program.

• Items requested by the participants are purchased and assembled by Assistance League volunteers.

Little Green Beans supports this mission by donating children's and maternity items we cannot sell in our store year round.

For more information on this incredible non-profit organization and its programs, to donate goods or funds or become a member see www.alaustin.org

Girl Scouts of Central Texas

Remember the Girl Scouts? Perhaps you were a Brownie like owner Sharon. Girl Scouting is still around and going strong at 100! 

All Girl Scouts of Central Texas programs and activities – from camping to computers, arts to engineering, and service projects to field trips – are designed to challenge and prepare girls for the future.  In all activities, girls play an active part in planning and decision-making while creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Girl Scouting offers an array of fun, educational programs focusing on fine arts, science and technology, math, the environment, community service and life skills. Girl Scouts lead with courage, confidence and character, to make the world a better place.

• Girl Scouts of Central Texas serves over 20,000 girls in grades K-12 and over 13,000 adult volunteers in 46 Central Texas counties.

"It made me who I am today.  It gave me knowledge, wisdom, and the ability to cope with today’s stress.  
It was important on my resume and has been a communication subject.  I am very proud of being
a Girl Scout, Leader, Board member and Lifetime member.”  Phyllis

Girl Scouts of Central Texas makes it easy for you to join the world’s largest organization dedicated to empowering girls to be leaders.

• Girl Scouting is available to every girl including those in private school and those being home-schooled. Visit www.gsctx.org or contact your local Program Pathway Coordinator at (800)-733-0011 for more details on joining.
• Connect with Girl Scouts of Central Texas on Facebook and Twitter.

Bake A Wish

Imagine a child not having a birthday celebration with a cake? Hundreds of children in our local Austin community might go without if it not for the exceptional all-volunteer Bake A Wish Austin organization. 

Since September 2009, children's birthday cakes have been handmade and delivered to children who have seen abuse and neglect in Greater Austin. Today their mission also includes serving elderly and disabled Austinites in affordable housing communites. 1,800 total deliveries have been made!

How it works:

• 20 Austin-area agencies request a custom cake for the the child or elder.
• Donations of cash and gift cards help offset the costs of running the nonprofit, volunteers' cake baking supplies, and cake delivery. 
• Make it Sweet, Little Green Beans' neighbor at the Crossroads Shopping Center provides gift cards to the vounteers for their supplies and has done for many years. We applaud their ongoing outreach and support!
• Cakes are baked, decorated and delivered each week.

To learn more about becoming a Bake A Wish volunteer and supporting them with a donation, please visit www.bakeawishaustin.org Follow them on Facebook.

CASA of Travis County

A court-appointed special advocate or CASA works with children in need and our local system: the courts and schools in particular.  CASA of Travis County believes every child who’s been abused or neglected deserves to have a dedicated advocate speaking up for their best interest in court, at school and in our community. To accomplish this, CASA educates and empowers diverse community volunteers who ensure each child’s needs remain a priority in an overburdened child welfare system.

When the state steps in to protect a child’s safety because the people responsible for protecting them have not, a judge appoints a trained CASA volunteer to make independent and informed recommendations and help the judge decide what’s best for the child. 

• CASA is the only child advocacy group working in the court system that provides a caring, consistent adult focused on the well-being of a single child. For children who’ve been abused or neglected, CASA means having a home instead of feeling lost, and being a priority instead of feeling invisible.

For volunteers, CASA is a life-changing experience that makes our community a better place. CASA volunteers come from every walk of life and share a commitment to improving children’s lives, a willingness to learn, and an open mind towards life experiences different from their own. 

CASA of Travis County was created in 1985 by concerned community members and judges and was the fourth CASA program in Texas – following the creation of the national CASA model by a Seattle family court judge in 1977.  In their first year, CASA recruited and trained 43 volunteers who served 85 children.

CASA of Travis County is now one of the top ten CASA programs in the nation, supporting more than 550 volunteers who advocate for at least 1,400 children a year. To learn more about becoming a CASA volunteer or supporting CASA of Travis County, please visit www.casatravis.org or call 512.459.2272.  Follow them on Facebook and Twitter!

Austin Sunshine Camps

At Little Green Beans, we believe that all children should have the chance to grow and thrive. Summer should be no exception. For economically disadvantaged children, the summer may be a bit unstructured and/or unsupervised while caregivers need to work and school is out of session. One local organization is making a difference this summer and for the past 84 years! Austin Sunshine Camps (ASC) was founded in 1928 to help combat the tuberculosis epidemic. ASC Camps aim to create a better future and stronger community through mentoring, education and personal development of Austin's youth, who come from low-income families.  

During the summer of 2012 more than 850 high-potential, low-income youth from Central Texas the opportunity to attend week-long, residential summer camps.  

Participation is completely free of charge to the youth and their families and includes a camp uniform, all activities and three healthy meals each day.   

“I went to Austin Sunshine Camps every summer.  I got away from being hit and kicked and yelled at.  I also really learned that you can use words to solve problems.  Camp was the only place that I ever felt safe.  With everything that had happened to me, I didn’t’ feel like there was anyone I could trust.  But at camp, I could trust people.  I learned that even though there was so much abuse in my life, I could make my life better for myself when I got older.” -Sophia

Let’s help support this incredible non-profit program, which since its inception gave 45,000 youth from Central Texas the chance to attend summer camp! See their website to make a donation and show your support on Facebook.

Lights. Camera. Help.

Lights. Camera. Help. is an Austin-based nonprofit organization that is dedicated to encouraging other nonprofit and cause-driven organizations to use film and video to tell their stories. They do this through their education and volunteer match programs, screenings and their recent annual film festival. 

Lights. Camera. Help. offers its educational programming for nonprofit and cause-driven organizations. Whether non-profits are looking for a workshop or consultation, they can give them the skills they need to make your next video project a smashing success. Watch their documentary to learn more.

Heartsong Music

Heartsong Music teaches Music Together, the internationally recognized early childhood music program for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and the adults who love them. Heartsong mission is to provide Austin with the highest quality early childhood music education program for the entire family.  They seek to create a community of music-makers by providing excellent teachers, materials, and classroom resources in a developmentally appropriate, engaging, and fun, participatory environment that supports and nurtures music development in young children, birth through age 7.

In addition to mixed-age and babies Music Together classes, they also offer Inter-Generational Music Together classes, Musical Spanish Classes and a Heartsong Children's Choir. For more information and to sign up to attend a FREE sample class, visit HeartsongMusicTogether.com or call 371-9506.

Central Texas Doula Association

A doula is an individual who offers one-on-one support for a woman in labor as well as her partner and family. The word "doula" comes from a Greek word meaning "woman's servant". With regard to labor and birth, doulas provide continuous, uninterrupted care for the laboring woman and her partner, helping them participate fully in their experience by offering physical and emotional support and information about the birth process and their available options. Doulas also support pregnant women through portions of the prenatal and postpartum period.

The Central Texas Doula Association aims to raise community awareness about the role of doulas, provide a listing of local doulas, maintain high standards within our profession and support doulas by providing continuing education and a peer network.

To find a Doula who meets your needs and for more information.

Assistance League® of Austin

Assistance League® of Austin, located at 4901 Burnet Road in Austin is an ongoing partner for Little Green Beans. The mission of Assistance League of Austin is to enable children and adults in the Greater Austin community to achieve a higher quality of life by providing for specific identifiable needs.

One of their many important programs is called Waste Not, a community service to oversee distribution of excess and unusable items donated to (or purchased for use by) the organization's THRIFT HOUSE, Operation School Bell, or any other Assistance League of Austin program. 

This distribution is made only to other non-profit agencies with 501(c)(3) status, or entities otherwise pre-approved for such donations (e.g., Any Baby Can, BookSpring, Dell Children's Medical Center and many others during 2010-2011), and are not to be sold for a profit. The program returned over $9,700 in goods to the community in the past year ending May 31, 2011.

Little Green Beans supports this mission by donating children's and maternity items we cannot sell in our store year round.

For more information on this incredible non-profit organization and its programs, to donate goods or funds or become a member see www.alaustin.org

Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin

The Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin is a non-profit organization whose mission is to accept, pasteurize and dispense donor human milk by physician prescription, primarily to premature and ill infants since 1999. Mothers who have surplus milk can help fill this need and give fragile infants a better chance to grow and thrive.

Milk Bank donors are healthy, conscientious women who care about others. They are most often nursing their own babies, have an abundant milk supply, and donate their surplus milk to the Milk Bank. Women who donate their milk often say they receive deep personal satisfaction from knowing they have helped improve the health of other babies. For more information about becoming a Donor Mom click here.  

Lil' Green Hands

We couldn't help but check out the Lil' Green Hands, the volunteer program for helping beautify Austin and part of Little Helping Hands. This non-profit is a great local gem!

Children and their caregivers participate in a number of environmentall focused volunteer activities such as gardening, planting, park and city clean-ups, recycling, and harvesting local produce. Recent partners have included the Austin Parks Foundation, the City of Austin plus a number of local parks and events supporting the Barton Creek Greenbelt Guardians.

On the Little Helping Hands Events Calendar you can view all of the volunteer opportunities' descriptions.

• Opportunities for the next month are posted by the third week of the previous month. 

To sign up just register on their VolunteerSpot sign-up calendar. Sign-ups are on a first-come-first-serve basis.

• Please note that sign up is one spot per family member. Example: mom, dad and one child = 3 spots. 

Organized Groups might choose to Sponsor an Activity that Lil' Green Hands organizes. Great for schools and religious groups..  A donation of $350 per activity can help offset their costs.

• Little Helping Hands offers approximately 20 volunteer activities each month at an average cost of $6,000. This includes costs associated with materials/supplies, snacks/drinks, in-kind donations and of course, the people who make it happen!
• Help them offset the costs by sponsoring one or more of our events. We’ll also acknowledge your family’s generosity at the event/s you sponsor and on our website (optional, of course) in appreciation of your support. Start by e-mailing Marissa Vogel at marissa@littlehelpinghands.org 

Join one of their fun volunteer activities this Spring and teach your children the importance of helping our local environment.

HeliOS

The locally-based HeliOS Project was founded in 2005 with the focus that a Child's Exposure to Technology Should Never Be Predicated On The Ability To Afford It. To date 1102 disadvantaged Austin-area kids and their families a computer. 

HeliOS has built computer and technology learning centers in and around East Austin. The learning center located at the Cristo Rey Catholic Church on East Second Street serves the local community and offers weekly classes at that center to teach people how to use a computer and how best to use the Internet for job searches and communicating with their families.

Support this amazing local program by Donating Your Used Computer, Components or Money. The local drop-off point is close by to Little Green Beans at the following business address: ITech Electronics, 8312 Burnet Road, Suite 109, 78704. For directions call 512.374.0846. For other information about HeliOS and how you can help Contact them directly.

Heart House Afterschool Austin

Heart House Austin is a free afterschool program with two locations dedicated to providing a safe haven and academic support to low-income children, encouraging them to become good citizens.     

Their focus is instilling the ability for children to to grow up to be healthy and productive citizens giving them key resources including the following:

• Ongoing relationships with caring adults;
• Safe places with structured activities;
• Health and mental health;
• Marketable skills/competencies acquired through education and youth development; and
• Opportunities to give back through community service and civic participation.

The Heart House Philosophy is to meet the needs of educationally at-risk children with innovative instructional methods that traditionally have not been thought of as appropriate for this group.  Remediation (education offered below age or grade level) is the method commonly applied to the educational needs of at-risk children, but has been found to diminish effective learning.  Remediation does not necessarily enable children to apply learning or to transfer learning to new content. 

Students at Heart House have been found to have high levels of academic potential, and when challenged with difficult concepts and the expectation that they could achieve solutions, have produced work of remarkable quality.  This suggests that instructional methods normally reserved for students of high academic ability, such as thinking skills, and challenging questioning techniques, should be used with at-risk students.  

Two locations serve local children: South Austin on W. Slaughter Lane and North Austin on Northeast Drive near Highway 290 East and Berkman Drive, More about their programs can be found on the Heart House website. Consider becoming a part of this wonderful, local resource in one of the following ways:

• Join the Leadership Council.
• Host a Heart House information session at your home, work, or civic organization.
• Join a committee.
• Volunteer with the children.
• Be a guest teacher.

Join Little Green Beans in supporting this incredible local resource for helping Austin kids with a donation or by becoming a volunteer!

Bookspring

BookSpring is our treasured local resource that provides great services to Austin-area children and their parents promoting childhood literacy. During April 2011 we collected 150 gently used books for this outstanding organization in our store. 

Reading Is FUNdamental provides “forever books” to Austin area children with the opportunity to choose from a large selection and keep three books per year at no cost to their family.

Librarians, teachers, and volunteers motivate children to read with exciting literacy-related activities at each RIF event.

The Reach Out and Read Program ensures literacy becomes a standard part of a well child check up. Children are given a brand new book nine times between six months and five years of age. Physicians encourage parents to take the time to read to their children.

BookSpring supports the Reach Out and Read Program in 24 clinics in the Greater Austin area. All clinics serve Austin’s under insured families, those with Medicaid, Austin’s Medical Assistance Program or no insurance.

La Leche League

La Leche League of Texas offers support in locations across the state and a number of in-person groups in Greater Austin. All women interested in breastfeeding are welcome to attend meetings or contact leaders for breastfeeding information and support.

Many meetings operate on a rotating series of discussion topics that cover all aspects of breastfeeding, and mothers and mothers-to-be are encouraged to share their questions and concerns as well as the benefits and joys of breastfeeding. Peer support and resources for breastfeeding moms is the focus of this organization.

Because La Leche League recognizes the importance of mother-baby togetherness, children are welcome at all La Leche League meetings. Groups meet in different parts of Greater Austin in order to provide the breastfeeding women and the community with conveniently located groups. There's even a meeting each month within five minute's drive of Little Green Beans in Central Austin, which is well attended and informative.

Join Little Green Beans in helping moms get the support they need.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area

Here's a statistic worth memorizing: it costs $70,000 a year to incarcerate a prisoner, and $500 a year to take care of a kid at a Boys & Girls Club. 

Here in Austin have much to celebrate though  we are not exempt from the effects of poor school attendance, low graduation rates, increasing teen crime and pregnancy rates. In fact, Travis County ranks third in the nation in teen pregnancies, and first in second pregnancies among teen mothers!

What are your children doing from 3:00 - 8:00PM each day?  

Thousands of kids throughout our community lack adult supervision and meaningful things to do between the time they leave school and the time their parents come home. In fact, the most common time for youth to engage in sexual intercourse is between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 6:00PM. Boys & Girls Clubs are open during these 5 critical hours, offering a fun and productive environment to enjoy after school and all day during summer and school holidays. 

To provide a great environment where kids want to come, our local Boys and Girls Clubs have some specific needs:

• New ping pong tables - so hundreds of kids can enjoy them every day.
• Academy or Dick Sporting Goods’ for sports jerseys so that kids can form teams.
• Digital cameras so the Clubs can run a photography program.
• Other needs are for basketballs, art supplies and new board games.

 Please think of them during this holiday season and throughout the year. Little Green Beans will be looking out for items to purchase from our consignors and donate to this great, local organization!

There are many more ways to Get Involved!

GALS

Giving Austin Labor Support or GALS is an amazing volunteer program which seeks to provide emotional and physical support to women during their birth experience. Anyone can access a volunteer birth support companion or doula by contacting their dispatcher at 512-934-2171.  

Numerous clinical studies have found that continuous labor support:

• Tends to result in shorter labors with fewer complications
• Reduces negative feelings about one’s childbirth experience
• Reduces the need for pitocin (a labor-inducing drug), forceps or vacuum extraction and cesarean
• Reduces the mother’s request for pain medication and/or epidurals

Research shows that women who receive continuous labor support: 

• Feel more secure and cared for
• Are more successful in adapting to new family dynamics
• Have greater success with breastfeeding
• Have greater self-confidence
• Have less postpartum depression
• Have lower incidence of abuse

 Join Little Green Beans promoting this group that is helping Austin-area moms get the support they need during childbirth. For more information contact them.

Give as You Get

While we at Little Green Beans like to "Go Local Full Time," we realize that there are many commodities we need for our young children that we must purchase elsewhere. For convenience, many of us shop online for the basics our family.

Give as you Get brings together the wants of donors and the needs of non-profits. Give as you Get gives you an easy way to buy the items you want with a percentage going to your favorite organization.  

It's easy sign-up, select your preferred non-profit from their extensive list and shop your favorite online stores. For more information see their how-to video too.

Easter Seals of Central Texas

Easter Seals Central Texas is a leading provider of autism services for both children and adults and serves thousands of people with both autism and other disabilities in 21 Central Texas counties from birth to old age.

Their five service programs include: Community and Housing Services, Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation, Early Childhood Intervention, Employment Services and Paid Job Training.

In April 2012, we spotlighted their programs for families with Autism. Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in the world and the numbers are staggering. There has been a 200 percent increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism over the last ten years. Today, the prevalence of autism is as many as one in 110 children; for boys, it’s one in 70. That’s a new diagnosis every 20 minutes – making autism more widespread than Down Syndrome and childhood diabetes.

It is important to be aware of how common this disability is and to understand that there is treatment and support available right here in Central Texas.  Early diagnosis is extremely important.

Contact Easter Seals Central Texas at 512-615-6800, on the web, or on Facebook and consider how you can help them in their great programs through volunteering or making a donation

Whole Planet Foundation

Whole Foods Market is an Austin institution, born and raised here (and now a leading grocer with stores across the U.S. and in the U.K.), but have you heard of their Whole Planet Foundation?

• The Whole Planet Foundation provides grants to these ‘microfinance institutions’ to improve the quality of life in locations with extreme poverty and hunger. They aren’t just giving money away. Instead, these communities use loans to increase work for its community. Many loan recipients are women who run small businesses.

Whole Foods Market's mission to empower individuals in the global community through entrepreneurship. Whole Planet Foundation's mission is poverty alleviation through microcredit in communities worldwide that supply Whole Foods Market stores with products.

• Whole Planet Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization established by Whole Foods Market, funds poverty alleviation through microlending partners worldwide in communities where Whole Foods Market sources products.

Whole Planet Foundation was born out of Whole Foods Market's desire to give something back to those who have helped us succeed while focusing on the persistent problem of world poverty and hunger. The foundation was formed with the entrepreneurial spirit of Whole Foods Market in partnership with Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, co-recipients of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

100% of donations made to the Whole Planet Foundation go directly to the charity. All fees are covered by Whole Foods Market corporation, which is very unique (and generous). That means the donations go immediately to the locations where work by microfinance institutions supported by the Whole Planet Foundation across the globe.

There are many ways to get involved with the Whole Planet Foundation that can be found on their website. We highlight below just a few:

• If you are interested in supporting their global mission of empowering a community of microentrepreneurs you are encouraged to make a donation directly on their website here.
• By far the easiest way to give is to visit your local Whole Foods Market and make a donation at checkout as owner Sharon did. Donations are accepted at checkout during March.
• Visit and launch your personalized campaign to fundraise for microcredit entrepreneurs in communities that supply Whole Foods Market stores and facilities with products.

Connect and learn more about the Whole Foods Foundation on Facebook and Twitter (@WholePlanet).

They also have a contest going on: Small Change for Big Change - tell them about a small act you did that resulted in big results and you’ll be entered to win a trip for two to India this summer! Click here for details.

A Family Village

In the fall of 2008, Tiziana and Catherine both became first-time moms whose friends and family lived far, far away. With no "village" of support in Austin, they desperately sought out other new moms with whom to mingle and grow. 

But before they found their village, during the early months of motherhood, they were home alone with their babies. Trapped at home with questions, crying babies, and dirty diapers, we were desperate to find others like us. Through friends of friends, they gathered a group of five women doing exactly the same thing.

Their common bond was motherhood, but they each approached it differently and those differences made the conversations and gatherings ever more interesting.  Mostly what they got from this group was a collective appreciation for a newfound lifestyle and the support to keeps them moving forward. 

A Family Village holds weekly, two-hour meet-ups, which gie mothers a “safe-space” to breastfeed at will, look a little haggard, get a healthy meal and have an experienced mommy watch your child as you ran to the post office. The “village” became the invaluable support that gave us strength in many weak moments. 



A Family Village wants to connect you with other Austin families so you don't have to go it alone. They want you to meet your familly's match at A Family Village!

AKA

Many of us have been touched by adoption - having adopted children in our families, having been an adoptee or a birth parent who made the tough decision to have their child be adopted by another family. 

This “Triad” is supported by one amazing, local non-profit organization Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA). Together members of these three groups come together, along with supportive, adoption professionals each month to hear a guest speaker and participate in support sessions for their own part of the triad.

• Whether you're seeking to form a family through adoption, seeking information about family members you have been disconnected from or just seeking knowledge about the lifelong issues in adoption, AKA provides helpful information through educational resources, on-going programs, and emotional support.

• At their events one will find people of great courage, choosing to sift through past and present perceptions about adoption in order to give voice to the losses, joys and hopes found in adoption's reality. 

AKA is an organization where there is often a broadening of perspective, a change of heart, tears shed and relief found. AKA is a place where people are reaching out and growing stronger.

We’d like to highlight the Monthly Education Meetings, which are are held at Settlement Home, located at 1607 Colony Creek Dr, Bldg. B, Austin, TX. 

• There is no charge to attend, but membership and donations are encouraged to fund these educational programs.

At the April 2012 meeting, store owner Sharon and her husband were really inspired by Robyn Goebbel, LCSW and president of AKA. 

"We learned a great deal about how to talk with our young children about the pending adoption of our foster daughter and us becoming a forever family for her. After that meeting, I elected to choose AKA as our spotlight non-profit for May and to make a donation by sponsoring their newsletter."

To learn more about AKA, visit their website, follow them on Facebook or certainly consider attending a meeting. 

Groundwork Music Project

Every young child should be exposed to music and local Austin nonprofit Groundwork Music Project enhances the lives of children by providing free and low cost music classes to preschools and students with limited means. Music is a universal language that is inherent in all children.  Research studies have shown that music education increases children’s early literacy and math skills.  In addition, exposure to music ignites creativity and harmony among children. 

The organization is currently providing weekly music classes in 12 preschool classrooms, serving 200+ children. They have also offered pilot programs in elementary schools that teach elementary school-aged children the fundamentals of songwriting. The songwriting programs will be an integral part of the ongoing We Write It We Sing It initiative, through which elementary school participants will create content to share with younger children in our preschool programs that was started in 2012.

Through its Groundwork Music Orchestra, they bring high quality recordings and well attended public performances that families within and without the Groundwork classroom purview can enjoy.

• Recordings by the Groundwork Music Orchestra have featured guest appearances from nationally and internationally renowned talent like Ben Kweller, David Garza and Guy Forsyth. The recordings have been featured on Austin’s KUT and WXPN in Philadelphia. 
• The band has brought performances to small venues and large alike, including the South by Southwest main stage at Auditorium Shores and the City of Austin’s downtown stage during the First Nights New Year’s celebration.

Get involved! Businesses and Individuals can adopt a classroom of their choosing. Adopt a classroom for a month, a season or a year. Pick a school that is currently part of Groundwork’s network or adopt a school of your choosing. Groundwork also welcomes in-kind donations instruments, businesses services and technical support. Read more on their website and on Facebook!