In 2016, Sarah Ellis and Lauren Seiss had the idea of creating care packages to distribute to Austin's homeless. After seeking the counsel of local homeless outreach organizations (FrontSteps and Mobile Loaves & Fishes), they invited friends to join them. "Within days," Lauren says, "our event unexpectedly BLEW UP! Over 400 care packages were created that evening, and everyone in attendance asked us the same thing: when is the next event?"

Explains Lauren: "Austin is overflowing with young people who, in my experience, want to contribute to their community but don't have a lot of easy, secular options with which to do so. This initiative will provide a fun and thoughtful way for people to practice generosity in their everyday lives, and perhaps even lead them to mobilize into social action in other ways. Our primary hope for this idea is that the small gesture that our participants make will provide the spark needed for them to get engaged in civil service."

A $1000 grant from the Austin Awesome Foundation will go towards making their January 2017 care package event even bigger by funding the purchase of items that haven't been donated.