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By Alicia Garnes, September 5, 2012

With two young kids, my husband and I don’t go on many date nights. Like a lot of young families, we are watching our budget and are usually exhausted by the end of day. We also don’t get to socialize with our friends without our kids very often. As anyone who has ever spent time with a child knows, it is really hard to have a conversation when kids are running around, spilling milk and asking zillions of questions. Sometimes I really miss my old life when I got dressed up, went downtown, had a few drinks, danced and visited with friends. While I wouldn’t trade my situation for anything, I could sure use a night out!

That’s why I am very excited I found the perfect reason (opportunity, excuse, etc.) to reclaim my old life for a night while at the same time supporting a great organization. Little Helping Hands is holding its inaugural fundraiser event, Big Night Out on September 27 over at The Rattle Inn downtown.

Shinyribs

I can’t wait to get dressed up, meet other families that have volunteered with Little Helping Hands, listen to live music performed by Shinyribs, and try new foods. The silent auction will give me the perfect reason (opportunity, excuse, etc.) to treat myself to some things I wouldn’t normally buy. I hope the friends I tell about this event can get away, too. It’s also a great venue for a girl’s or guy’s night out.

While I know I will get a lot out of a Big Night Out, this evening is really about a worthwhile cause. Little Helping Hands teaches volunteerism to young children while also improving our community. Basically, I get to support a great organization and have a fun night out, a win-win all around. I definitely don’t have any excuses not to have a date night with my sweetie.

I invite you to follow me on Little Helping Hands’ Facebook site over the next few weeks as I get ready for my big night out and I hope to see you there!

To learn more about Big Night Out for Little Helping Hands and to purchase tickets, visit our event webpage. And, feel free to tweet about the event on twitter at #LHHBNO.

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By Marissa Vogel, March 7, 2012

Spring Break is fast approaching and if you’re planning to be in town we invite you to join us for a family movie night at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s newest theater on Slaughter Lane.

In partnership with the Alamo Drafthouse, Little Helping Hands will host two screenings on Wednesday, March 14: Charlotte’s Web will begin at 6 pm and Spy Kids will begin at 6:15 pm. Proceeds from this event will be donated to Little Helping Hands. Tickets may be purchased online via the Alamo Drafthouse website, or you can purchase tickets on-site beginning March 8. For more information, please visit our event webpage.

This is a great opportunity to check out the new, family-friendly theater before its grand opening later on this month and a chance to help support our work at Little Helping Hands.

“We know that families want fun activities that both the parents and children will enjoy,” said Amy Averett, Private and Community Events Director of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, “We’re so excited to be part of the Slaughter community – even our “monster plant” decor was inspired by the nearby Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.”

Interactive events, such as sing-alongs and quote-alongs will be something Austinites should expect to see offered as well as Baby Day at Slaughter which will allow parents to enjoy a movie with their little ones.

Special thanks to Henna Chevrolet for their support and sponsorship of this event and of course to the Alamo Drafthouse for selecting our organization as the beneficiary.

“We’re excited to partner with Little Helping Hands because of the great work they do connecting kids and families with the community around them. We thought this would be a great opportunity to celebrate the work of Little Helping Hands and also raise awareness and funds in the Slaughter area for their great program,” added Averett.

This event is open to the public so grab your friends, neighbors, and family and we’ll see you at the Alamo! And, feel free to help spread the word, too!

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By Marissa Vogel, November 1, 2011

As a culture, we are becoming increasingly disconnected. Busy parents are searching for ways to spend quality time with their children while exposing them to opportunities to make a difference in their communities. Little Helping Hands has inspired a huge demand for family-friendly volunteer opportunities in the Austin area. We are thrilled to let you know that the G-Team, Groupon’s charitable arm, is sponsoring a campaign beginning today, November 1^st, through November 3^rd to help support Little Helping Hands Kids Cooking for Charity volunteer activities.

With just a $10 donation, you can help fund two cooking activities on Family Volunteer Day this year and future Kids Cooking for Charity activities. The exciting news is that H-E-B will match all donations dollar for dollar, up to $600!

Our Kids Cooking for Charity program provides food and meals for people experiencing hunger or traumatic times AND an opportunity for young children to become engaged in their community in a meaningful way. In 2010 alone, Little Helping Hands family volunteers assembled and served nearly 3,000 meals to those in need – that’s a lot of work done by little hands! We are thankful for our contributors, who enabled us to purchase food for these activities, helping reduce the burden on our partner agencies that are facing increased demand during the economic downturn.

There’s one catch: to receive 100% of the proceeds raised through Groupon during this campaign, 30 people must donate to Little Helping Hands between November 1st and 3rd. Can you help us?

Here’s how to help:

1)      Go to: http://www.groupon.com/deals/gt-little-helping-hands

2)      Click “Buy” and select quantity, e.g., 1 = $10, 2 = $20, etc.

3)      Complete Order

4)      Spread the word by sharing our Groupon link to your network of family and friends via email, Facebook, and/or Twitter

This will be our third year to participate in Family Volunteer Day, celebrated annually the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Scheduled this year on Nov 19, the day “kicks off” the holiday season with giving and service and is designed to demonstrate the power of families volunteering together. We have 13 activities planned that day, providing many Austin families and children with an opportunity to come out on this national day of service.

We are continuing to work hard to meet increased demand for meaningful, family volunteer opportunities that connect children with our local community. As one mom commented, “We always have such a great time! I appreciate the kids learning more about their community and understanding that we all play a role in helping others.”

Your participation in this campaign will make a difference, with both our children and Central Texans in need. Thank you for your support and helping us spread the word!

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By Courtney Clark, September 16, 2011

For my graduate philanthropy thesis, I’m reading a LOT. Obviously. But this one book had me stopping every dozen or so pages and saying “Man, I wish EVERYONE could read this book.” So instead of a regular blog post, I’m just going to let you hear what the author, Robert Wuthnow, says in his own words. I couldn’t conceive of a way to say it better.

From “Learning to Care,” by Robert Wuthnow (1995). Oxford University Press.

The central argument of this book is that kindness needs to be reconceived if it is to contribute to the public good in our society. The problem is not that Americans – even Generation Xers – are lacking in kindness. Contrary to what many social critics have argued, we are not so controlled by selfishness that we must teach people from scratch what it means to care. Virtually all of us already know what it means to care and be cared for, because we have learned this elementary kindness in our families. We have witnessed parents, siblings, and other role models showing kindness to friends and relatives. We even have a primordial understanding of why caring is a good thing. The problem is that this elementary understanding of kindness has remained idealistic, naive, private. What we often have NOT done is to learn how to translate these caring impulses into behavior that makes a difference in the ordinary lives we lead as adults. In order to be responsible citizens, we need to relearn the caring impulses of our childhoods and to understand what kindness means in an adult world.

The reality of American life at the end of the twentieth century is that complex social institutions have been established to do much of the business that our society requires. Despite their obvious shortcomings, these institutions actually work quite well most of the time. And because they do, each of us can get along in our personal lives by treating these institutions with relative indifference. But this indifference seems to contradict the ideal of being devoted, caring, and concerned about the common good. Thus, we live a kind of schizophrenic existence, having a primordial impulse to be caring but knowing that we are indifferent much of the time.

The solution to this dilemma is not to replace all our indifference with valorous deeds of kindness but, rather, to find a new understanding of kindness that is effective in the institutional reality in which we live. We do not need to learn from scratch what it means to be kind, but we do need to relearn how to put our caring impulses into practice in effective ways. We need to bridge the gap between the idealistic images of caring that we learn as children and the more nuanced understanding of kindness that we must have as adults. One of the best ways of making this transition is by becoming involved in community service and other volunteer activities.

Courtney Clark is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Austin Involved which provides young professionals with opportunities to discover, do and donate in meaningful ways as a cohesive group within the Austin community.