President & CEO Hank Perret (center) with Milam County Community Foundation Staff and Community Supporters

Milam County is in east central Texas about 60 miles northeast of Austin, and where 26,000 people call home.  Dedicated to improving the community through promoting reinvestment and supporting long-term economic growth, the Milam Community Foundation  provides funding and support to nonprofit organizations like ours servicing Milam County.  The Foundation has chosen our Food Bank as a recipient of a $30,000 grant in support of our work in the area.

For more than 30 years, the Capital Area Food Bank has served communities large and small across our 21-county service territory.  In mostly rural areas such as Milam County, alleviating hunger and food insecurity has its own unique challenges:

• Employment is more concentrated in low-wage industries;
• Unemployment and underemployment are greater;
• Education levels are lower;
• Work-support services, such as flexible and affordable child care and public transportation, are less available;
• The rural marketplace offers less access to communication and transportation network; and offers companies less access to activities that foster administration, research and development.

Source: Feeding America

The Food Bank operates a Kids Cafe at Cameron Elementary school and two Wheels of Sharing mobile food pantries. The additional funds could provide enough Kids Cafe meals for an entire year and more than 110,000 pounds of nutritious produce, protein, and staples through the mobile pantry.

Thank you, Miliam Community Foundation for investing in the health and well-being of your neighbors, and for inspiring philanthropic giving to make your community stronger.

By Mark Bennett, ASIS Austin Chapter

The American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS) Austin Chapter serves the security professionals in the greater Austin area. The Chapter holds a yearly golf tournament to raise money for our scholarship fund but they didn’t have a program in place to give back to our community. After serving as a Chapter officer for five years I was compelled to start a community outreach event and the SHOOT OUT HUNGER event was born.

I’m an avid shooter and wanted to tie that into a yearly charity sporting clays event to support our community.  I believe that we live in a nation where NO ONE should ever go hungry with the capacity the USA has to produce food. When I discovered the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (CAFB) and your programs, I knew that was where we wanted to show our support.

We are amazed by the outreach and how you distribute food to a 21 county area serving 48,000 people and of that number 20,000 being children. We learned that CAFB sees the demand for food rise each year during the summer when the children are out of school. These children will not benefit from the free breakfast and lunch programs that may be the only meals that they can count on.

My passion is to help eliminate hunger and the idea to hold the SHOOT OUT HUNGER event in May will help support the food bank during this time. This year we are holding our 4^th annual SHOOT OUT HUNGER event on May 17^th and our goal is to raise $10,000.  I would like to invite everyone to come out and support our cause. Please visit our website at:

www.shootouthunger.org and sign up to participate, donate and volunteer.

Our ASIS Chapter helps protect private industry and we want to support that by giving back to the community we serve.

Yesterday we kicked off our Summer Meals That Matter campaign to help nourish children and their families this summer.  In addition to raising awareness about challenges families with children face when school lunch is not available during the summer months,  we have also set a fundraising goal to raise 500,000 meals.

Walmart has generously offered a $25,000 matching gift challenge to support our campaign. Now through August 15, your donations will be matched! This means that your donation will go twice as far and provide $10 worth of food for every $1 donated.

You can donate directly to the campaign here, or go a step further and  fundraise online with your friends, family or coworkers.

Your gift provides more than a meal; you’ll nourish dreams for children like Lorenya and Sylvia.  You can learn more about these promising young girls on the Summer Meals That Matter site.

Thank you for making a difference this summer. Learn more at www.austinfoodbank.org/summer/

by Leah Schimberg at Outlaw Realty of Austin

Central Texans love to have a good time, celebrate successes, and give back to our community. We all know and love Texas for those reasons! The most awesome combination of those things is when we have an unforgettable time at an event created by Texans, for Texans, to give back to the less fortunate in our communities.

For the past 5 years Outlaw Realty of Austin, an 8 agent 4 support staff residential real estate firm, has transformed what was once our client, family-friendly BBQ to a huge community celebration! This Crawfish & Croquet benefit party was created to benefit a Central Texas charity doing the very most with what they have and doing it in a notoriously excellent style. In the past this event has benefited local cancer assistance organizations, at-risk youth programs and now we are proud to be donating the event’s ticket proceeds to the Capital Area Food Bank for the second year in a row.

Our eight real estate consultants reach out to the local professionals that we recommend to our clients (roofers, cleaners, printers, remodelers,  home builders, etc.) and ask them to sponsor and help us cover the costs of this event, only to be overwhelmed with generosity each year.  We then reach out to our current and past residential real estate clients and ask them to share the event with friends and family and buy tickets to the event. For those who are regular consumers of crawfish they know what a great deal a $25 donation/ticket for crawfish & fixins’, Texas St. Arnold’s beer, and tons of family friendly fun really is. Man, what a feel good deal! The event now draws over 200 people and raises thousands of dollars for the Capital Area Food Bank!  Learn more here.

We are very lucky to have supportive clients, professional business supporters, and a beautiful city to call home but we all are aware of the struggles that many central Texans face each and every day. The most vulnerable in our state, the elderly and children, are many times those most at risk. Outlaw Realty stands alongside the Capital Area Food Bank in the belief that hunger in Central Texas is unacceptable. The services that the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas providers cannot be oversimplified. They served numerous needs in multiple capacities with over 19,000 volunteers, in 21 counties, in the 2011-2012 year! They coordinate to provide: nutrition education, food pantries, disaster preparedness, Meals on Wheels, summer food programs, healthy and fresh food programs for the elderly and children, and fresh food rescue services. Their services are broad and so important. Although many of us have not had to use their services it is an absolute that Outlaw Realty and our supportive friends, family and clients are grateful for all that CAFB does and the services they provide to the many in need.

Thank you, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas! See you at the 5th Annual Crawfish & Croquet Benefit Party this Saturday, May 18th! For more information, visit our website at OutlawRealty.com