Service

To foster the value of being moral community leaders, St. Austin Catholic School provides opportunities to serve the community and world outside of our school walls. Students, faculty, and parents regularly participate in community service through fundraisers, donation drives, and with their individual time and talents. It is through these experiences that students further develop and strengthen valuable skills like self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, and empathy.

All families (parents, guardians, grandparents) are expected to volunteer at the school. These efforts help keep tuition lower than it otherwise would be, while also adding to the learning environment for students and providing appropriate role modeling for students. Each family is required to volunteer their adult time and talent at a minimum of 20 hours per school year.

Opportunities include but are not limited to:

• Beautification Day
• School Board or Parents Club roles
• Event chairs or volunteers
• Pro bono professional services
• Career Day
• Library reading buddies
• Mentoring new families
• Gardening
• Chaperoning field trips

Please contact school administrative staff for more information on how you can volunteer today.

Your generosity and the generosity of our students since we returned to campus in September has been wonderful. THANK YOU!

To Date: Your generosity has helped 3 organizations and raised: $2,427 to help provide affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women who are coming out of chronic homelessness, provide opportunities for young children in distressed financial circumstances to have access to reading resources and provide resources to sink wells to provide access to clean water for communities in developing countries. In addition, 48 cubic feet of household items, linens and clothing were collected during our collaboration with Goodwill of Central Texas on Grandparents' and Special Visitors' Days to help continue Goodwill's mission of providing education and jobs for those in our community. 

Thank you for your support of our local community partners. In preparation for Free Dress For Charity Days, our community learns about and helps support external organizations and the missions they live out. Our service learning projects that support community organizations are key to the mission of St. Austin Catholic School - to prepare students to be Christ-centered, academically strong, moral community leaders.  Service learning and social justice connects our academic curriculum to community problem solving. 
Planning for the year's activities takes place during the summer months collaboratively between our school administration, our parish Director of Social Justice Ministries, parent volunteers and the admin staff at local organizations. This year’s theme is to honor the Catholic Education in Virtue. During in-service weeks, our teachers collaboratively decide which grades will delve deeper into the mission of each organization and share that with the school community during morning meetings, through in-print and online marketing and through participation in the collection and distribution of tangible items collected.
St. Austin students are encouraged to learn from their experiences in school and use them in their service to others independent of the school community, such as with their local sports teams, after school activities, friend circles or through many organizations locally who welcome elementary and middle school students to volunteer for their service hours. Here are some ideas where students can satisfy their personal service hour goals: https://do512family.com/volunteering-with-kids-in-austin/
We encourage families to have courageous conversations with their children about supporting those in need in our community. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to your continued generosity.

The Junior League of Austin (JLA) will hold the 38th annual Coats for Kids (CFK) distribution from December 2 to December 11, 2024. Together with our long-standing partners, Jack Brown Cleaners, iHeartRadio, and KVUE, The Junior League of Austin will provide over 30,000 warm winter coats to Central Texas children in need.

Since its beginning 38 years ago, CFK has collected and distributed 1,035,135 coats. JLA collects money and coats all year to support Coats for Kids. See your donation at work in the following graphic and find ways to donate below.