Our Firsthand Look at Affordable Housing

Posted by courtney on Jun 28, 2010 in Blog | 1 comment

Austin Involved volunteers spent Sunday, June 27th at Foundation Communities, a nonprofit providing affordable, safe and attractive housing for Austin families escaping homelessness.

We were there working on a garden project at the front entrance of one of the communities because, as the organization’s executive director so appropriately says, “I want our residents to come here on the first day and think they’re in the wrong place, because it is such a great-looking, safe community.” Our volunteers cleaned out beds, planted, gardened and mulched, all to make this community a place the clients of Foundation Communities can feel proud to raise their families.

But the best part of the day was realizing that a resident’s home across the street also had a dead bush. Our hard-working volunteers wouldn’t have been happy making the property beautiful but leaving behind a single blemish, so we went across the street and asked the resident if she wouldn’t mind us replacing her dead bush would something fresh and new. She was thrilled that we wanted to help her make her home look more inviting, and she ended up with a brand new tree AND three bushes!

Check out the photos on our Facebook page, and watch the video below. We can’t wait to see you at our next volunteer day, on July 31st, volunteering for Lights. Camera. Help. Check it out and RSVP here!