24 Jul Deep Love for Foundation Communities

1. You took an extended-stay hotel filled with crime and drugs and first turned it into temporary housing for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and then into a lovely supportive housing property for 142 low-income adults who earn 30% or less of the median family income for Austin.
2. You maintain 17 properties with 2600 apartments. You have family-friendly properties, places for single adults, and this fall you are going to open up Capital Studios at 11th and Trinity, the most affordable downtown housing to come online in 40 years.
3. You have helped people who were down on their luck and not doing well emotionally, physically, or financially return to careers as a nurse and as an electrician while living with dignity in place that is beautiful and costs $400/month all bills paid.
4. You were early adopters of the first commercial solar rebate program through Austin Energy back in 2005. You held in there and kept putting your money into renewable energy and got to expand your Spring Terrace solar array from 20 kW to 80 kW. This latest addition cost only 10% more than the original array – and you added 300% more capacity with the fanciest new technology. With your most recent additions you are now the largest private property solar owner in Austin with 430 kW installed and another 190 kW (fingers crossed!) coming online with the Homestead Oaks and Capital Studios projects.
5. You have the LONG view of property ownership and make all the smart investments in conserving energy and water and building your capacity to generate your own energy as well. You even inspired a patron to give you a $500K zero-interest loan for five years to finance expanded solar.
6. You have restored beauty to the world by transforming a barren parking lot into a courtyard oasis for your residents. This gorgeous outdoor community space is inviting and peaceful while being a leading-edge environmentally-friendly installation. 
7. You maintain a 13,000 gallon rain water catchment cistern and community garden plots for residents that allow them to grow nutritious food and connect with the earth. 

You turn doing the right thing for the environment into savings that can be invested in your mission to create housing where individuals and families succeed. You are a shining role model of an organization making a tangible positive impact on the full spectrum of sustainability –  economy, equity and the environment. You make the business case for green investments so logical and compelling that others can see possibilities for themselves where before they had not. 

I heap abundant praise on the gentle and amazingly effective Executive Director Walter Moreau, the passionate and effective Green Initiatives Director Susan Peterson, and the knowledgeable and capable Design + Development Director Sunshine Mathon. You and your extended team are truly heroes of and for the planet.

Thank you.

Love, Brandi

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So, are you moved by reading all this?? Here are a few ways to get involved with these heroes:

• Attend an Open house to meet the ED, get a tour and heard from some residents
• Volunteer
• Donate
• You can also volunteer for Keep Austin Fed which picks up food from local restaurants and grocery stores and delivers to facilities with people in need all over Austin, including multiple Foundation Communities properties.