As Saint Louise House celebrates our 20th anniversary, we celebrate 20 years of community partners who work together with us to empower mothers and children to overcome homelessness.
When families come to Saint Louise House, they are in need of a wide variety of assistance. Even with the generosity of our donors and volunteers, we could not meet their needs alone. Here are just a few examples of how community partners help us support families:
When a Saint Louise House mom’s car breaks down, she’s not in danger of losing her job due to lack of transportation because we’re able to provide bus passes thanks to Capital Metro’s Transit Empowerment Program.
When car repairs take up her monthly budget and threaten her ability to feed her children, she can visit Saint Louise House’s on-site food pantry stocked with about 400 pounds of food a week from the Central Texas Food Bank.
If a sudden job loss threatens her ability to pay her utility bill, our partnership with Austin Energy’s Financial Support Plus 1 Program takes care of the payment. The ability to open an Austin Energy account is a requirement to live at Saint Louise House, so we also often use this assistance to help families on our waiting list qualify for our program.
YMCA’s Bridges Childcare Program and allows mothers to afford childcare which may have always been a financial burden keeping them from investing in their own schooling or career.
These are just a few examples of the community partnerships that provide outside expertise and assistance that benefit Saint Louise House families, expanding the services we are able to provide at minimal or no cost. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we want to thank the dozens of community partners who have donated their time and talent over the years.
It truly does take a village, as the saying goes, to move Saint Louise House families along the road to self-sufficiency and independence.
Community partnerships benefit both Saint Louise House and the families who live here by tapping expertise beyond our staff’s capabilities to give mothers and children the best advice and aid possible in the numerous areas where they need help. Donated or low-cost support and services allow us to use our other resources more effectively and efficiently, including generous contributions from individual donors. Partnerships can range from one-time donation of graphic design services to consistent communications support. They include a long-term partnership that provides deeply discounted counseling services to Saint Louise House families to pro bono services by individual professionals that allow families to access legal, dental, and other professional services at little to no cost.
Do you or your organization have expertise you can share to benefit Saint Louise House or the mothers and children who live here? We’d love to welcome you as a partner! Contact [email protected] to explore ways to partner with Saint Louise House families.