Austin Allies

Vanessa Lowe is a total badass. To know her is to love her, and to not know her is to wish you could have. She is whip-smart, hilarious, compassionate, passionate, generous, creative, nurturing, and driven. Tragically, in her early 50s with twin boys in eighth grade, cancer is taking Vanessa's physical presence from us way too early. Although doctors say we will lose her within a few weeks, we want to cement her real presence: her legacy and permanent impact on our lives and the lives of other Austinites. And we want to do it quickly, so that she can see it happen, by asking you to give generously to the nonprofit she helped start.

Vanessa has been committed to social justice her entire life, primarily as an educator. In 2016, reeling from the surge of anger and hatred that dominated our political landscape, Vanessa and two friends sat down at the kitchen table and answered the question so many of us asked: WHAT can we DO? From that conversation, Austin Allies was born.

Austin Allies helps connect families to volunteer opportunities where they can truly make a difference. From its humble beginnings in that kitchen, Austin Allies now has three employees, an office space, and provides weekly volunteer opportunities for hundreds of families in the Greater Austin area. They work with more than 90 nonprofit partners to help meet their needs and those of their clients by providing them hard-working volunteers. In Vanessa's honor, we want to raise funds that will help Austin Allies in the next phases of its development, specifically growing their Helping From Home program which allows busy families to give back to the community from the convenience of home, as well as nurturing and expanding their budding School Program where they work directly with local elementary, middle, and high schools (NJHS, NHS, PALS, after school clubs) to provide students hands-on, community-minded activities to give back during the school day. Click here for more information about Austin Allies.