Resolve to Help in 2023
Editorial
As this year draws to a close everyone’s thinking about their NewYear’s resolutions. How am I going to be better in 2023? Please consider making yourself better in 2023 by making your community better. Below is a list of local organizations that would love to have you become involved as a volunteer, a donor or by simply connecting someone you know that might be in need of their services. And this is only a partial list of the great programs here in Fayette County. Here at the Record, we’re promising to keep shining a spotlight in local non-nonprofit organizations Here’s to a 2023 where we resolve to look out for one another.
Texas Ramp Project
The Texas Ramp Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides free wheelchair ramps to low-income older adults and people with disabilities identified by local health care providers. Ramps are built exclusively with volunteer labor, keeping costs to a minimum and are built without regard to race, religion, ethnicity, age, or gender. For more information, or to request a ramp, visit: www.texasramps.org. To donate or to volunteer, contact Frank Smith.
(512) 762-4065 jfranks@stedwards.edu
Fayette County Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity partners with people in your community to help them build or improve a place they can call home.
P.O. Box 1127 La Grange, TX 78945 (210) 816-0942
Bluebonnet Trails Community Services
Our mission includes valued services to adults with serious mental illness, to children and adolescents with serious mental illness or emotional disorders, autism or pervasive developmental disorders, to people with developmental disabilities, and infants and toddlers with developmental delays.
275 Ellinger Rd., La Grange, TX 78945 (844) 309-6385
Turtle Wing Foundation
Turtle Wing Foundation helps children with learning challenges in rural areas achieve their full potential.
723 S Upton Ave., Schulenburg, TX 78956 (979) 505-5090
Family Crisis Center
The Family Crisis Center is the expert resource and service provider in eliminating domestic and sexual violence in Bastrop, Colorado, Fayette, and Lee Counties. The Center offers victims of domestic and sexual violence safety, shelter, and advocacy. 431 Old Austin Hwy, Bastrop, TX 78602 (512) 321-7760
Faison Preservation Society
A fragile treasure from the past, the Faison Home and its contents require vigilant care and preservation. The Faison Preservation Society is dedicated to this task so that visitors can gain a deeper understanding of their past and their identity as Texans. We welcome your help in saving this jewel for future generations.
822 S Jefferson St., La Grange, TX 78945 (979) 968-9416
Fayette County Community Theater
The Fayette County Community Theatre strives to enrich, educate, and entertain our community by inviting members to both attend and participate in high-quality theatrical productions. 254 N Jefferson St., La Grange, TX 78945 (512) 791-7096
Boys & Girls Clubs of Champion Valley
Boys & Girls Clubs of Champion Valley have provided programs and services that promote and enhance the development of Weimar, Schulenburg, and Columbus youth by instilling a sense of competence, belonging, usefulness and influence. Boys & Girls Clubs are a safe place to learn and grow all while having fun. It is the place where all great futures are started every day.
1100 Bohlmann Ave., Schulenburg, TX 78956 (979) 743-3780
Parkinson’s Support Group
For anyone struggling with Parkinson’s disease movement disorder, the group in La Grange meets the third Thursday of every month for patients and caregivers.
653 E Pearl St., La Grange, TX 78945 (832) 561-1447
La Grange Optimist Club
La Grange Optimist Club serves the youth of La Grange and surrounding areas through sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer, and scholarships.
P.O. Box 672, La Grange, TX 78945 Call Misty Touchet at (979) 639-1551
La Grange Rotary Club
The Rotary Club of La Grange takes time and effort to better their community and takes pride in “Service Above Self ”. In everyday settings, the club strives to set good examples to others and take time out of our lives to give back to those who are in need or simply just need an extra hand.
P.O. Box 723, La Grange, TX 78945 Regina Keilers at (979) 968-3155
Mini Horse Helpers
Mini Horse Helpers is an organization of caring people who believe in the healing power of animals. Our volunteers, which include educators, administrators, a veterinarian, social service providers, physicians, and business professions, are dedicated and actively involved in our mission to bring miniature horses and humans together in healing relationships and to promote literacy.
(979) 968-5438
Prevent Unwanted Pets (PUPS)
PUPS is an organization dedicated to helping decrease the number of unwanted/euthanized animals in our area. Our mission is to assist people with the spaying and neutering of family pets, feral cat (barn cat) colonies, and abandoned animals to decrease pet overpopulation. We help pay for the neutering or spaying of dogs and cats whose owners need financial aid. We focus on families who are low-income, or who just cannot currently afford the additional expense.
1884 Bostik Rd., Cat Spring, TX 78933 (979) 732-5591
Children’s Advocacy Center
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Bastrop, Lee, and Fayette Counties is where the cycle of abuse stops and healing begins. It is a child-friendly facility where child victims of abuse may be interviewed, undergo medical evaluations, and receive therapy. Also, the center provides extensive training for protective caretakers and child abuse and neglect education to the communities they serve.
1002 Chestnut St., Bastrop, TX 78602 (512) 321-6161
Schulenburg/Weimar Parents as Teachers
Parents as Teachers (PAT) is a parent-education and family support program serving families throughout pregnancy until their child enters kindergarten, usually age 5. Parents are supported by PAT-certified parent educators specially trained to translate scientific information on early brain development into specific when, what, how, and why advice for families. By understanding what to expect during each stage of development, parents can easily capture the teachable moments in everyday life to enhance their child’s language development, intellectual growth, social development, and motor skills.
301 W Saint Charles, Weimar, TX 78962 (979) 725-9832
Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center
TCHCC preserves and promotes the history, language, culture, and heritage of Czech Texans who trace their ancestry to the presentday Czech Republic or the former Austro-Hungarian Empire (including Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Slovakia). Located in La Grange, Texas, in historic Fayette County, the “Cradle of Czech Immigration,” the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center operates exclusively for charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes, and to honor those immigrants.
250 W Fair Grounds Rd., La Grange, TX, 78945 (979) 968-9399 La Grange Noon Lions Club
The Lions Club is the largest service organization in the world. 100% of raised funds go to those in need. La Grange has not one but four Lions clubs. The Noon Lions is the largest with over 100 members, but we also have the ladies Bluebonnet Lions, the Breakfast Lions, and the Evening Lions. All total well over 200 members. The Noon Club is the oldest being founded back in the twenties, closing in on 100 years serving La Grange. The club was instrumental in starting the local LGISD scholarship program leading the way over 40 years ago and continues to give around 10 scholarships every year. The club also has a program called Serve 12 where members conduct a service project locally every month of the year. Also, as the club was challenged to be a voice for blindness by Helen Keller herself, we administer KidSight where we go to area schools each year to conduct eye screening of students at an early age. We also led the path to bring the LEOS club, which paved the way for Interact (Rotary), to both the middle and high school.
P.O. Box 341, La Grange, TX 78945 (713) 408-3317
La GrangeWIC
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, popularly known as WIC, is a nutrition program for pregnant, breastfeeding women, and families with children younger than five. WIC provides the support and inspiration to eat right, have a healthy pregnancy, breastfeed successfully, and raise amazing kids.WIC helps you buy the foods that you and your children need to stay healthy. WIC foods are low in fat, high in fiber, help you get important nutrients, and promote a healthy weight. WIC helps you buy many of the healthy foods already on your grocery list such as milk, cheese, eggs, bread, and baby formula. Breastfeeding is the best way to feed your baby. Let us help you meet your breastfeeding goals with our trained lactation consultants. Breast pumps are also available at the clinic.
WIC is open to many incomes and families. If you are on Medicaid, TANF, or SNAP you meet the income eligibility guidelines for WIC. If you don’t qualify for these programs, you may still qualify for WIC by meeting the income guidelines for your household. For more information, visit texaswic.org. We are open on Mondays and Thursdays only.
275 Ellinger Rd., La Grange, TX 78945 (979) 968-6391
CASA of Bastrop, Fayette & Lee Counties
When a child enters the foster care system because their home is no longer safe, a judge may appoint a committed volunteer to help them. That volunteer is called a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). CASA volunteers are screened and highly trained and then appointed by judges to represent and advocate for a child’s best interests in the child protection system. CASA volunteers are each assigned to help one child or set of siblings at a time, so they can focus on giving that child or sibling group the individualized advocacy and attention they need.CASA of Bastrop, Fayette, and Lee Counties continues to provide valuable volunteer advocacy for every child that has experienced abuse or neglect in this area. CASA volunteers provide informed recommendations to the judge and other people involved in the case. For more information, visit casabfl.org.
507 Water St., Bastrop, TX 78602 (512) 303-2272
Hope Rising
Hope Rising is a licensed Texas Child Placing Agency dedicated to the rescue and restoration of minors rescued from human sex trafficking. Our mission is to provide long-term care and recovery for minor children who have been rescued from human sex trafficking and exploitation. Hope Rising is committed to instilling hope, offering a future to these minors, and fostering wholeness and healing. Headquartered in Houston, we serve counties within a 150-mile radius. This area of service includes Harris, Waller, Washington, Montgomery, Fort Bend, and Austin Counties.
11757 Katy Freeway, Suite 1300, Houston, Texas 77079 (979) 399-5055