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The 13th annual Amplify Austin Day, a community-wide giving event that benefits nonprofits in seven Central Texas counties, will be held over a 24-hour period during the first week of March. The event will kick off at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5 and conclude at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 6.
During this time, local residents are encouraged to make donations to support over 700 local nonprofit organizations, including eight in the Dripping Springs area: Thundering Paws, Lizzy's Animal Hospice, Service Dogs, Inc., SAWA SAWA Collection, Solace and Sage, PAWS Shelter, Hometown Missions and Foster Village.
“Thanks to past Amplify Austin campaigns, Foster Village has equipped caregivers with essential resources, connected families to sustaining support, and advocated for systemic change to break generational cycles of adversity,” Director of Communications Christina Hite said.
In 2024 alone, Foster Village served 1,700 children. With this year’s funds, the group hopes to create more space to meet the 33% increase in requests, and to increase trauma-informed training.
“Together, this community beyond the system can amplify what it means to belong - ensuring no child or caregiver navigates foster care alone,” Hite said.
Solace and Sage is another participating nonprofit. It was created in 2021 by three local women dedicated to providing the structure and support for helping adults 60 years and older in Central Texas age in place with dignity and quality of life.
“As healthcare providers, we understand the challenges and barriers older adults and their loved ones face when managing and navigating a medical crisis or chronic and/or progressive illness,” Executive Director Michelle McCarty said.
The organization has a team of occupational therapy practitioners and nurses who offer in-home consultative and medical services.
“Without our critical interventions, this vulnerable population is at risk of unnecessary hospitalization and displacement from their home," McCarty said.
This will be the second year for Hometown Missions to participate in Amplify Austin.
“Our participation and focus for the event this year will be on our next frame and foundation Home in a Month project,” said Operations Manager Chris Kelker-Newla. “The donations received go toward that project, which begins in late April and concludes in late May.”
Hometown Missions is a local faith based non-profit and community of individuals, churches, and businesses who are dedicated to ensuring all Dripping Springs residents live in safe, healthy housing. It helps neighbors in need with home repairs, home maintenance, ADA access inside and outside, and even tears downs and rebuilds housing.
“Our mission is to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to bring the local community together to build and repair homes, inspiring hope,” Kelker-Newla said.
Lizzy’s Animal Hospice has participated in Amplify Austin for the last six years. Lizzy’s rescues senior pups from shelters and provides them with the care they need, including medical, to get them healthy and help them find forever families.
“Funding is very difficult for Lizzy’s since we are a very small, privately funded rescue, so the opportunity to be a part of Amplify Austin each year is integral to Lizzy’s continued success in placing those pups that others said nobody would want,” Karen Cole said.
Animals who aren’t placed stay with Lizzy’s, which is a foster-home-based rescue. The group also focuses on providing a comfortable quality of life for terminal pups.
“Our medical is around $60,000 annually,” Cole said. “We hope to increase the donations so we can continue to bring in the pups that others will not, because they are viewed as expensive and not adoptable.”
Service Dogs, Inc. is another participant in Amplify Austin. The group has adopted over 1,000 shelter dogs and trained them as Service Dogs for Texans living with disabilities.
“We train Service Dogs, Hearing Dogs, Courthouse Facility Dogs, and First Responder Facility Dogs,” Founder and CEOSheri Soltes said. “We just matched one of our Facility Dogs with Patriots’ Hall in Dripping Springs. Riff, adopted from a local shelter, will support 14,000 military veterans, their families and the staff at Patriots’ Hall.”
Soltes said the organization aims to rescue and train 25% more dogs this year. And thanks to the Second Chances Matching Campaign, any gift automatically doubles up to $50,000.
“You also double your impact by saving two lives: an unwanted dog and the person he will eventually help,” Soltes said.
For feline fans, Thundering Paws is a participant in Amplify Austin. Their mission is to offer safe haven for cats who are homeless, neglected, injured, or abused. They do that with a sanctuary and hospice, as well as other programs.
“A cat that’s come into our program but doesn’t get adopted has a forever home at Thundering Paws,” Executive Director Anne Zabolio said.
Through their foster program, they secure adoptions for tame cats and kittens. They are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. They also provide services for community cat colonies, helping with trapping, spaying and neutering, and vaccinating before returning cats to their territory.
“We assist the public in helping cats and other animals by sharing our experience, loaning traps, listening, and validating that all animals are important,” Zabolio said.
Another group involved with Amplify Austin is PAWS Shelter, which has been participating for more than 10 years.
"The funds raised during this 24 hour event are crucial for providing medical care for the animals in our program. We stand by our animals no matter what, even when medical situations arise," said Katheryn White, PAWS Adoption Counselor. "Our goal is to raise $40,000 which will help fund our medical program for the year and help us afford to treat things like heartworms, ringworm, broken bones, infections, and other life threatening conditions. Because of the funds raised during Amplify Austin, we can continue to save lives."
The final local group participating in Amplify Austin is SAWA SAWA. Their mission is to create sustainable solutions to poverty for artisan women in Africa. The women create beautiful, one of a kind baskets, accessories and art to make a dignified living.
“We sell the products in the USA to conscious consumers and use the revenue, grants and donations to fund quality of life programs like food, water access, solar lights, education and menstrual health resources,” Co-founder and CEO Anne Drane said.
Through Amplify Austin, SAWA SAWA hopes to raise funds for their upcoming trip to Africa.
“This July, we will bring women from Dripping Springs and Austin to Africa to experience our artisan villages, wildlife, organic food, culture, music and more,” Drane said. “It's our way of creating meaningful connections for women everywhere.”
Amplify Austin Day aims to increase giving by providing easily accessible giving opportunities via the online Amplify ATX platform. Donors can search for nonprofit organizations by keyword, location and category across seven Central Texas counties: Travis, Hays, Williamson, Burnet, Bastrop, Caldwell and Blanco. Participating nonprofits serve 19 different cause categories, including racial equity, the environment, animals, the arts, basic needs, children and veterans.
I Live Here I Give Here, the organization that sponsors the event, has also added disability services as a category for the first time, with 27 nonprofits taking part.
“When the world feels big and out of control, one of the ways to really make a difference is to give back locally,” says I Live Here I Give Here Executive Director Piper Stege Nelson. “Amplify Austin Day is the perfect opportunity to make a difference in our local community by being part of a huge generosity movement.”
While Amplify Austin Day officially starts on March 5, early giving is already open for residents who wish to jumpstart donations to their favorite nonprofit. Early donations will count toward the Amplify Austin Day totals and qualify nonprofits for early giving incentives and grand prizes.
Since 2013, Amplify Austin Day has raised $112.7 million for over 1,500 Central Texas nonprofits, demonstrating the transformative impact of donations big and small, with the minimum donation amount being $5.
“This one giving day is the perfect chance to show Central Texas not only that we care, but that together, we can make an enormous difference in our community,” Nelson said.
To learn more about Amplify Austin Day 2025, visit AmplifyATX.org.
