Over the last two weeks the Needs Council has witnessed “Community” in a profound way.  A man called to offer a travel trailer he and his wife had purchased several years ago with plans to see the country.  Well, life happened and they didn’t need it anymore.  He asked if we knew anyone who might make use of it.  We did, a mother who spends her days and nights caring for a disabled son who lives in a trailer that’s seen better days.  To go inside during and after a rainstorm is to enter a swamp.  Many patch jobs were attempted but the water always found a new way in.

Several volunteers pitched in to prepare the trailer and the new location for the move; clearing branches, hooking up the utilities, and showing the mother how everything works!

These talented and generous people volunteer because they care about people, about their neighbors even if they don’t know their names, and because they appreciate belonging to this “Community”.  The mother in the “new” trailer feels as if she won the lottery and has to pinch herself to make certain she’s not dreaming.

During this same two week period your Needs Council assisted: 12 families with rent/mortgage payments, 11 families with Medical, Dental and Vision needs, 9 families with utility bills, 8 children with summer camp scholarships to Boys and Girls Club, a disabled man with wheel chair repair, and 113 children took home Food 4 Kids bags full of nutritious food.  Our two in house counselors saw 18 clients, 80% of whom were victims of domestic violence.  Transportation volunteers took 22 seniors to medical appointments and 21 HAS volunteers visited their homebound seniors.  We also listened to numerous individuals as they related the hardships facing them from the death of a spouse, to the agony of making the decision it’s time for a parent to enter a nursing home, to how to pay bills while taking chemo and radiation treatments.  All this and more, made possible by your donations and volunteer support.

Travel magazines are prone to list “best places to live” using a variety of categories, if the list rated communities by how well its citizens support one another I dare say Fredericksburg would be at the top.

Cindy Heifner, Director of Hill Country Community Needs Council

Thank you again.   A Senior Client

From my heart – a happy faced friend – smiling and laughing once again!!

Dear “Santa” & All his helpers:

With hospital bill arriving from my recent knee replacement looking like part of the national debt, I had decided best to ignore the season & just enjoy the music & Charlie Brown specials. But then your “jolly elves” arrived today bearing not just gifts, but things I had needed or wanted. Needed bedroom shoes but decided food more urgent. Now I’m toasty warm in beautiful, red slippers, + a beautiful blue (my favorite color) throw, luxurious bathroom set, frozen dinner, & oh, the candy! what a luxury! Been needing a bedroom clock (this one is so sleek + great size) – so many goodies I hope I’ve not forgotten anything.

It’s hard sometimes when you reach 80 without family – no grandchildren, many old friends live far away – to keep a happy face. Being housebound chained to a walker is a challenge, but when I realized the support you have given me I have to feel blessed. You have made such a great difference in both my life & my outlook.

May God continue to bless you & the wonderful, caring work you do. You are truly “Angels unaware”.

I pray you all have your best holiday yet.

With love, appreciation & admiration,

These tiny miracles tend to remind me of chance, and circumstance and in the end- hope.

When I look at the flowers on the fence I think of the care someone years ago took to originally plant and nurture the seeds that were purposely placed in the ground, close to that strong fence line, I think of structure and purpose and intention. And when I look at the improbable patch of Morning Glories blooming far away from the fence line- seeds that had been tossed by the wind and the elements, and yet somehow took root despite the odds, I have to smile.

It reminded me that sometimes as children we are lucky enough to be planted by a sturdy fence; we have a warm home, enough food to eat, clothes that fit and plenty of love, stability and guidance.  And sometimes we are tossed into the wind by the forces of abuse and poverty, neglect, or health issues and we find our footing, beat the odds and bloom beautifully anyway. When I moved to Texas nine years ago I had run from an abusive situation over 1500 miles away. I put my children in a 1996 van with no air conditioning and we traveled across the country in the 100 degree plus brutal August sun and arrived the day before my daughter started kindergarten.

I rented one room with kitchen and bathroom privileges and that is where the three of us lived. After I paid our rent of $250.00 and bought a few groceries I had about $40.00 left.  When my daughter started kindergarten, and my son pre-K the next day, I had no idea they would come home with a long list of school supplies that were needed right away.  It is amazing how a list of paper, handed to you by a beautiful five year old, with simple items like glue sticks, safety scissors and such can seem like a mountain. I had barely time to unpack a few boxes, let alone find a job, and here was a challenge that after moving across the country seemed overwhelming.

Luckily the woman that I rented from told me about a special place just a few blocks away that could help me. Since I had never heard of a place like The Needs Council I would have never even thought that such an amazing place could exist. It wasn’t a federally funded or government run bureaucracy just an unassuming little building funded out of the goodness of people’s hearts.  They were out of school supplies the day I arrived but they gave me an HEB gift card for $20. I am a testament to the value of a $20 contribution.

I don’t suppose that people can ever imagine that when they donate twenty dollars they might be contributing hope; that the person receiving it might have only forty dollars to their name; that two children might proudly walk in to school with a box of new crayons and a smile on their face.

It is my mission to see that , that first act of kindness to me would come back to The Needs Council a

hundred-fold.  Through the years the Needs Council helped my children and me with their support and counseling and eventually in a court case which freed them from the stronghold of abuse with a full termination of rights.

I do not hesitate to tell my story or to put my name on it because when something wonderful happens to you the best thing you can do is share that story. The next thing you do is give back.

I write this letter as a person who is full of gratitude and as a person who jumps to contribute back every single chance I get. So, I thank the donors who give each day and wonder how they are making a difference. I thank the person who sent in that twenty dollars and I thank the wind for tossing me to Fredericksburg where I could beat the odds and bloom beautifully where I was tossed.

Last year when one group leader read the family’s list she said, “Laundry detergent, how can that be a Christmas gift?” We told her that almost every family had listed it because it is expensive and everyone needs it! We actually had a woman break out in tears of joy as if she’d won the lottery when she received a 5 gallon bucket of laundry detergent with a big red bow on it.

We assign a number to each family; this protects the confidentiality and dignity of our clients. As the gifts arrive at the Needs Council the parents are notified to pick up at their convenience. This allows parents the option of hiding the gifts until Christmas, and no one, especially their children, need know the origin of the gifts.

Cindy Heifner, Executive Director