Name: Anonymous donor gives $400,000 to Season for Caring, $300,000 to Central Texas Food Bank
Brand: statesman.com
SKU: statesman-com-70
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Anonymous donor gives $400,000 to Season for Caring, $300,000 to Central Texas Food Bank

preview

Austin American-StatesmanView CommentsLast week, an anonymous donor allocated a $400,000 gift to Statesman Season for Caring and a $300,000 gift to the Central Texas Food Bank in addition to a $100,000 gift the donor made to the food bank earlier this year.The $400,000 gift is the largest single gift made to the Season for Caring program since it began in 1999. With this gift, Season for Caring has raised $1,205,665, including $113,545 in in-kind donations this year. It is the most raised in any single year.Each year, the Statesman highlights the needs of 12 families nominated by local nonprofit organizations and helps hundreds of others throughout the year with basic necessities such as food, rent, clothing and medications using Statesman&nbsp;reader donations.&nbsp;Since 1999, Season for Caring has given $14.9 million to local nonprofit organizations from Statesman reader donations.The donor was inspired by all the Season for Caring families' stories, especially those of people who are&nbsp;refugees."It's all staying local," the donor said of why he chose Season for Caring.&nbsp;After seeing a Statesman photo taken by drone of lines of cars&nbsp;during one food distribution event, the donor was inspired to give to the food bank. "We live in the greatest country in the world, and yet ...&nbsp;I started crying," the donor said.Giving these two gifts has given the donor great joy. "I haven’t smiled like this since roughly March 13 of this year," the donor wrote in an email acknowledging the gift.This year many Central Texans, including the families featured in Season for Caring, were hit hard by the pandemic.&nbsp;Every day, Aaron Kemkaran, 36,&nbsp;isn't sure how he and his wife, Mayra, will put food on the table for their daughter and her parents after the pandemic shut down the music industry, which was their livelihood.&nbsp;Renee Milam, 36, cried in the car when she found out her job had ended at a hotel. How would she take care of her four children with medical worries and developmental delays?LaChantia Anderson, 39,&nbsp;lost her job in a school lunchroom when the pandemic began. It's her constant worry that she and her two teenage daughters will become homeless again.The Season for Caring partner agencies&nbsp;have seen a tremendous need this year. It's unlike any other year.&nbsp;Meals on Wheels Central Texas has added 1,000 clients since the pandemic began. "The pandemic has had a tremendous effect on our population," which is mostly seniors, said President and Executive Director Adam Hauser.In the music community, "we are seeing more and more musicians who are asking for help in a way they haven't before," said Reenie Collins, the executive director of Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.&nbsp;Among Austin's refugee population, some of whom are served by Interfaith Action of Central Texas, employment in the service industry, such as at hotels and restaurants, has dried up."A lot of people have lost their jobs," said Simone Talma Flowers, the executive director of iACT. "Some families, it's just difficult to get consistent employment. We see it across the board. ... It's the pandemic causing all this strife."The pandemic, though, has caused Austinites such as the anonymous donor to be incredibly generous this year. The Sheth family increased its matching grant from $100,000 to $250,000 for 2020. Austinites met that with more than $400,000 in monetary donations made to Season for Caring by Christmas.More:"It's that generosity that's filling people with hope," Talma Flowers said. "That's what makes me so happy, so thankful, so appreciative. ... Thank you to all the angels that live among us."&nbsp;For the agencies, this new anonymous gift is&nbsp;"going to allow us to meet people immediately right where they are," Collins said.Some musicians&nbsp;are already starting to ration medications or skip them entirely, she said, which makes their health worse."This isn't about Christmas presents," she said. "This is about food and prescription medicine."&nbsp;Meals on Wheels Central Texas will be able to do more for its featured family, such as some of the home repairs. The&nbsp;gift also will allow the organization&nbsp;to&nbsp;buy more can openers, more microwaves&nbsp;and more fans in the summertime, and to pay more rent and utilities for its other clients.One of the anonymous donor's biggest fears about publicizing the gift was that people would see the $400,000 gift and think there were no more needs."The needs are still incredibly high," Hauser, of&nbsp;Meals on Wheels Central Texas, said.&nbsp;"Every dollar helps."&nbsp;Donations for this year will continue to be accepted through the end of January.More:More:More:More:View Comments

Austin American-StatesmanView CommentsLast week, an anonymous donor allocated a $400,000 gift to Statesman Season for Caring and a $300,000 gift to the Central Texas Food Bank in addition to a $100,000 gift the donor made to the food bank earlier this year.The $400,000 gift is the largest single gift made to the Season for Caring program since it began in 1999. With this gift, Season for Caring has raised $1,205,665, including $113,545 in in-kind donations this year. It is the most raised in any single year.Each year, the Statesman highlights the needs of 12 families nominated by local...

Anonymous donor gives $400,000 to Season for Caring, $300,000 to Central Texas Food Bank

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS