How Ridge at Lantana Residents Can Help Their Neighbors This Holiday Season

This year, consider having an impact not just on an Austin family, but one that lives around the corner. The residents of the Southwest Trails apartment complex, an affordable housing complex owned and operated by local non-profit Foundation Communities, likely shop at the same Oak Hill stores,  likely attend the same schools, and probably deal with the same Southwest Austin traffic as the residents of Ridge at Lantana. But there is one significant difference: the residents of Southwest Trails live in affordable housing.

For a variety of reasons, these families need a little extra help, and Foundation Communities’ housing and programs are there to lend a helping hand. Now is an opportunity for neighbors to step up and help make the holidays brighter for these families. If you’re looking for the chance to make a real impact in your community, consider helping the families of the community that sits snuggly on Old Bee Caves Road and Fletcher Lane.

Holidays are especially tough on low income families, as the reality of their situations hit home. Kids aren’t often able to receive the same types of gifts or go on the same types of family vacations as their peers, and parents don’t have the luxury of taking an extended break from work to spend with their families. Many of these households are single parents with multiple jobs, whose kids attend Oak Hill Elementary and participate in a free after school program that helps them complete their homework, learn computer skills, and enjoy fitness classes, reading programs, and more.

Learning Center Coordinator Isaac Rosales explains that the center has needs for both donations and volunteers: “There are some items that would make the programs that we offer the kids truly on a level that would benefit them tremendously. We just started a class to teach Elementary students how to use Word, Excel, Power Point, and other programs that will help them with homework and job skills, and having a large projector screen would really help us be able to teach the class to a lot more kids.”

In addition, items like a Wii would help with their fitness lessons, as would donations of healthy snacks. Board games that “are unusually expensive for some strange reason” also top the list of wish list items. Generic gift cards to places like HEB and Wal-Mart also can help put gifts under the tree and food on the table for some of the families. Finally, Rosales shares that a majority of his students could use some one-on-one time from volunteers, especially those who are bilingual. For more information, or to help out directly, Rosales can be reached at (512) 220-8849.

Thanks to the help of Foundation Communities and its programs, including affordable rent rates, free after school programs, and a matched savings and homebuyer education program, many of the families of Southwest Trails hope to save up enough money to purchase their own homes. When they begin their Austin home search, they’ll want to find someone like Austin REALTOR® Brian Talley, who has excellent resources available to help. If you are involved in an Austin home search and would like help finding a home in the Ridge at Lantana area, be sure to contact Brian.