Community Connection: Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive and Brady's Bridge

The Austin Apartment Association kicked off its annual Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive with a “Gobble Trot” parade on August 12th and a goal to raise $25,000 that would provide 100,000 meals for residents in the Association’s 11-county Central Texas jurisdiction at Thanksgiving.

The food drive began in 1986 when the AAA Community Service committee raised $600 to feed hungry Austinites. Since then, AAA member volunteers have raised more than $900,000 to purchase and hand deliver Thanksgiving food packages, which include a turkey and all of the trimmings so a local family can enjoy a full traditional Thanksgiving dinner. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased community need and social distancing guidelines, fundraising season started nearly a month earlier and 100% of all funds raised were donated DIRECTLY to our Association partner organizations, rather than delivering food packs. Partner organizations include: The Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services Rainbow Room, SAFE Austin, Foundation Communities, and, new in 2020, local Austin-area food banks such as the Central Texas Food Bank.

Our fundraising events took on a new look as well. Beginning with the “Gobble Trot” kickoff parade, socially distanced caravans of 10 cars or fewer drove three separate parade routes through participating apartment communities displaying the donation website address and QR code. Throughout September, 15 member properties held “Change for Change” events, handing out breakfast to residents for their spare change donations, socially distanced and masked of course. Three virtual fundraisers were also held, including a Facebook LIVE Telethon in September, an Online Auction and an Online “Dollars for Desserts” Bake Sale in October.

Congratulations to the entire 2020 Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive Crew, who spent countless hours volunteering their time making phone calls, sending emails, and thinking outside the box for creative ways to raise funds this year. A very special thanks to our Food Drive “Consultant”, Stephanie Naylor with Flooring Warehouse, and the three Food Drive Chairs: Terri Needham with PS Landscapes, Paige Russell with CREA Management, and Taryn Merrill with Greystar for their amazing leadership. We are so very thankful to EVERYONE who donated their time and money to make this year’s Food Drive another great success – even during a pandemic. See you (hopefully in person) in 2021!

See digital or printed magazine for full list of donors.

Our December Outreach Event was the Brady’s Bridge 9th Annual Christmas Tree Drive with a goal to raise $1,000. More than 30 AAA members volunteered to package 250 mini Christmas trees, lights and ornaments for kids spending the holidays in the hospital. In years’ past, we have raised funds at our Holiday Gala (APEX Awards in 2020). This year, since the APEX Awards were held virtually, we hosted an outdoor, masked and socially distanced fundraiser at Easy Tiger Linc. AAA members and Facebook followers were challenged via Facebook LIVE to donate more

than the previous person creating some good old-fashioned AAA competition. Despite the restrictions of COVID-19, we more than doubled our goal, and provided more trees than any other year. Thanks to our Outreach Committee chairs: Toni Rackley from Flooring Warehouse, Taryn Merrill from Greystar and Eric Leonard from We Do Trash for making it all happen – and to ALL our amazing volunteers. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Read more about Brady’s Bridge at bradysbridge.org.