Forging Connections: Nonprofit Week on The Lead Live
Kerr Together has been coordinating flood recovery for a year — and couldn’t legally accept a donation the whole time
Temporary housing remains a significant unsolved problem. Local Airbnb credits are exhausted. The rental market — high prices, low inventory — has pushed some displaced residents to look as far as Fredericksburg and Bandera.
Nonprofit Week 2026
All Hands and Hearts: ‘Flash flooding typically doesn’t go for 20 miles’
The organization is working in close collaboration with Texas State University and San Antonio regional VOAD — Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters — networks to develop and share mitigation education more broadly.
Light on the Hill: 469 households reached, 200 more this week, and a food pantry Monday morning
Palmer appeared as the opening guest of Nonprofit Week’s final day to describe an organization that has been in continuous disaster response mode since July 4, 2025 — and is, by her own honest assessment, running a marathon with no finish line in sight.
Reach Global: ‘People over projects’ — and a daughter born in a baptistry at the peak of the flood
Reach Global Crisis Response was founded by Mark Lewis during Hurricane Katrina after he observed something most disaster relief organizations miss: survivors often experience their deepest emotional trauma not during the disaster but after — when the crews leave, the house goes quiet, and the weight of what happened finally lands. The organization’s entire model is built to address that gap.
Water Street Festival returns Oct. 24 — and a three-year-old’s dance at Francisco’s is why
Sigerman, a Kerrville City Councilmember, appeared to promote the second annual Water Street Festival — Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. — and to make the case that community events are not optional extras in a flood recovery economy. They are economic survival.
Schreiner Songkeepers: a world-class violist, a strong opinion about AI, and a man who used it to leave a final album for his family
The program works with students of any level. Caldwell described a collaboration with Mac Damon of Stone Creek Sound in which a student who simply wants to write a song about their dog can emerge with a professionally recorded track.
Hill Country Ministries: 192 countries, 10 million emails, Stage 3 cancer, and ‘use it for my glory’
“God impressed on me: use it for my glory,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week — the final guest of the final day of The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week.
Kerr Kids: a military helicopter flew over, and a mother decided her children needed somewhere to play
The operating model is deliberate and worth understanding: Kerr Kids is a stay-and-play facility. Parents do not drop children off and leave. They stay and play alongside their kids. Chavez described watching something she did not expect.
Texas Hill Country Trail Alliance: $113,800 raised, 100 acres of undeveloped park, and a rule about carpet
The alliance’s primary project is Singing Wind Park — 100 acres of city-owned land on the outskirts of Kerrville that has long been underutilized.
Kerr Arts and Cultural Center: Navigating building capacity and there’s a vault sale in the basement
“There’s been so much exhaustion when it comes to the impact of the floods and giving,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week. “All we’re all hungry right now. People just aren’t giving to the arts right now.”
The top 25 moments from Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week — so far
Sixty-eight segments. 121 guests. Six broadcast days, totaling more than 30 hours. What follows are the 25 moments from The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week that we can’t stop thinking about — the revelations, the stories, and the lines that captured something true about Kerr County in the summer of 2026.
Day 1: Aug. 14, 2026
Nonprofit Week 2026
Texas Wildlife Association brings flood awareness, animal skulls, and a new educator to Hill Country schools
TWA’s local presence is anchored by Jonathan Letz, a former Precinct 3 commissioner, former TWA board president, and foundation trustee, who brought a dedicated Hill Country educator to the region. TWA has also aligned its curriculum with UGRA and is working closely with Riverside Nature Center.
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid: ‘Being a disaster survivor is a good enough reason to appeal late’
TRLA is hosting a community open house Monday, Aug. 17, from 2 to 6:30 p.m. at the Doyle Community Center. Flood survivors can access free legal information, meet case managers, and receive clothing donations and gift cards.
Tivy High School Golden Girls booster club gets nonprofit status, varsity roster hits 29
“Our purpose is to support our Golden Girls here with their fundraising efforts,” said booster president Amy Moroney. “To support all their activities, purchase costumes, help send them to competitions — all the things that they need so that they continue to be a bright and shining light for our community.”
Hill Country Youth Orchestras turns 40 with 120 students, two campuses, and a waiting list of talent
In fall and spring, the program expands to pick up another 30 to 50 percussion, brass, and wind students from Ingram and Kerrville. More than 2,200 students have gone through the program since its founding.
At 100 years, Rotary Club of Kerrville is planning the next century
The Kerrville chapter operates on the traditional Rotary “Four-Way Test” — Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? — but has added a fifth, local standard: “And the fifth, is it fun?”
Kerr County Stock Show at 93 years: teaching kids about the values of agriculture
Show week in January 2027 opens with the Annual Cowboy Breakfast at 6 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 4, sponsored by Texas Living Homes.
Elevate Adult Education hits 30 years, faces urgent need for volunteer instructors
Elevate is entirely privately funded through local grants and donors. Student registration is $25 for the full September-through-May term. The organization’s annual fundraiser is the Downtown Poker Walk, which sends participants through downtown Kerrville retail partners.
Two years in, Kerrville Ghostbusters have 501(c)(3) status and a plan to haunt your porch
The group has five active members and is looking for more. All applicants must pass a background check. After clearing the check, new members receive a flight suit, name patch, and no-ghost patch. Two events in, they are officially patched in.
Doyle Community Center anchors flood recovery in neighborhood that had never flooded before
The center, officially registered as the Doyle School Community Center, sits at 110 W. Barnett St. at the corner of Pascal and West Barnett. It began as a K-12 school — later a kindergarten — serving what was then a segregated neighborhood. For many families who have lived nearby for decades, the building is a piece of living history.
Day 2: Aug. 17, 2026
Nonprofit Week 2026
Together With Hill Country Veterans: 40 suicides a year in the Hill Country, and a general who says lean in
Oates urged residents not to brush past warning signs. In men, anger is frequently a clinical indicator of depression. An abnormal reaction to a normal event warrants a direct conversation.
Eight members, $140,000 raised: Kerrville Sunrise Lions Club punches far above its weight in flood relief
The club’s appeal to donors is speed. Unlike large grant-making organizations, the Sunrise Lions can get emergency funds into family hands within days.
Silver Sage Community Center: 56,975 meals, 17 routes, and a volunteer corps averaging in their 60s
The numbers from their most recent impact report: 56,975 Meals on Wheels delivered, 20,965 congregate lunches served, and 670,000 pounds of food distributed through drive-thru events in partnership with the San Antonio Food Bank.
Pregnancy Resource Center at 42 years: 8,000 appointments annually, a dad class, and sourdough baking
JJ Johnson, now in her fifth year as director, and Devan Burns appeared Monday on Lead Live to walk through what 8,000 annual appointments actually looks like at a center that recently expanded its physical space with help from a Cailloux Foundation grant.
Peterson Health Foundation postpones gala, launches employee assistance fund after flood hits 50 caregivers
In response, the foundation quickly established an Employee Assistance Fund, allowing community members and employees to make direct financial contributions to support hospital workers rebuilding their lives.
LiftFund: $50,000 flood grant for small businesses closes Aug. 20 — apply now
The challenge facing this year’s relief effort is disaster fatigue. The 2026 flood received far less national attention than 2025, and incoming relief funding is dramatically lower — even as damage levels are severe.
Kerrville Pets Alive spent $20,000 on flood response in 30 days and is now the county’s official animal disaster hub
KPA was formed seven years ago after a public outcry over high euthanasia rates at the county animal shelter, where animals were being put down twice weekly due to space constraints.
Hill Country Veterans Center fights flood’s second hit to fixed-income veterans with no federal funding
The center operates entirely on private donations — no state or federal funding of any kind. The veterans it serves most often are older, on fixed incomes, and among the most financially vulnerable in any disaster. Both floods hit them hard.
Hill Country Defense Alliance launches rural innovation network to keep defense contracts in the Hill Country
The alliance is actively recruiting local companies, public enterprises, and nonprofits whose work intersects with public safety, infrastructure, or defense.
Hill Country Alliance turns flood recovery into riparian restoration across four-county region
The Hill Country Alliance, founded in 2005 and celebrating its 20th year, functions as a regional convener — bringing together landowners, government agencies, and advocacy groups to protect the Hill Country’s natural resources, water quality, night skies, and rural character against the pressures of rapid population growth and development.
GliaConnect: the Kerrville nonprofit fighting a disease that 2.1 million people may carry without knowing it
Sullivan founded GliaConnect after her mother’s death in order to preserve patient advocacy momentum. Her family has been devastated by the disease across multiple generations — though she tested negative herself in 2023.
Kerr County Friends of the Night Sky pushes for responsible lighting as Kerrville registers 5-6 on darkness scale
The group meets the first Thursday of every month at 4 p.m. at the Riverside Nature Center.
Day 3: Aug. 18, 2026
Nonprofit Week 2026
Dietert Center’s ‘sneaky trick’: come eat lunch, then find out what else is here
Lunch is $10 — home-cooked meals like oven-fried chicken with cheese grits, chicken and dumplings, and meatloaf planned in consultation with a nutritionist. Sumner called it “the cheapest deal in town.” It is also, by design, a gateway.
Glory Community Garden: 35 beds, face-mask melon hammocks, and a quietness that Linda Lockhart calls ‘a God thing’
“To me, the Glory Community Garden brings in partnerships from all over the neighborhood and the community to be able to do something for themselves and for their community,” Bradshaw said. “Growing something from the ground up.”
Kerrville Christmas Lighting Corp pivots after courthouse and Tranquility Island electrical destroyed
The board is now actively evaluating alternative venues — The Water Street parking lot and the Cailloux Theater parking lot are both under consideration — to host the holiday tree and vendor booths. The annual parade, which historically draws 10,000 spectators, will go on.
Annie’s Helping Hands: the first elevated home survived. Now 12 more families are asking.
The organization rented the Center Point Historical Society building to establish a local disaster recovery center, completing more than 222 intakes for rural survivors in Center Point and Comfort who were in shock and struggling to navigate available resources.
Texas Hill Country Atelier: ‘It’s not intimidating. It’s just all the stuff you never thought you could learn. And you can.’
The atelier’s approach is methodical and cumulative — students learn to see and render light, form, and proportion the way 15th-century Florentine artists did, before the art world decided that feeling was more important than craft.
After two floods, the Hill Country Quilt Guild has given away more than 1,000 quilts — and is ready to give more
The guild’s major public event is its Quilt Show, last held in 2023 and next scheduled for May 2027. The show features professional judging, national vendors, and a handmade marketplace.
Kerr County Water Alliance honors flood victim with a push for structural change
The alliance is now transitioning its organizational structure from a 501(c)(3) to a 501(c)(4), a move that will allow it to legally lobby elected officials and support political candidates who prioritize sustainable groundwater management — something its current nonprofit status prohibits.
Community Foundation deploys $5 million and 36 case managers — and still can’t keep up
The foundation’s primary recovery model focuses on immediate stabilization: direct emergency financial assistance, temporary housing, home repairs, down payment assistance, and RV and mobile home replacements. Its ten-county regional footprint means the case management load extends well beyond Kerr County’s borders.
Riverside Nature Center rebuilt after 2025. Town Creek destroyed it again. A shipping container saved the rainwater tank.
Long-term, Etzler’s strategic vision includes expanding the visitor center, building out the Nature Lab, and — as a “pie in the sky” goal — launching a dedicated outdoor nature school.
Chamber Foundation raised $2.3 million after 2025 flood. After 2026, it has $35,000.
“I challenge you to go into a business you’ve never been to and buy something,” she said. “Those simple things will help our retailers not only survive, but thrive. They are the backbone of our economy.”
Our Lady of the Hills takes in Notre Dame students after flood, turns shared campus into a community
“Preschool through 12th grade are all in the same building,” Principal Bridget Collins said Tuesday on Lead Live. “It’s a hopping place.”
West Kerr Public School Foundation postpones fundraiser, keeps giving grants to classrooms
After its Ingram-focused launch, the board quickly recognized that West Kerr operates as “its own little world” — where elementary students in Hunt and Divide eventually matriculate to Ingram Tom Moore High School.
Day 4: Aug. 19, 2026
Nonprofit Week 2026
Texas Transplant Network: a kidney recipient, a grieving father, and a fund named after a 19-year-old who saved nine lives
The Texas Transplant Network, which Pendergraft founded and which received its 501(c)(3) designation in May 2025, addresses a specific financial barrier: the donor’s costs.
Symphony of the Hills opens season Oct. 8 with Weber and Brahms — and the Governor came to their July 4 concert
Dowdy, the orchestra’s conductor and artistic director, appeared alongside Board President Tim Summerlin to discuss a season that is both one of the symphony’s most programmatically ambitious in its 26-year history.
Sisters in Service: the nonprofit that shows up for other nonprofits — 11-hour days and a golf tournament coming
Sisters in Service began as a Bible study. It evolved into something harder to categorize — a logistics operation embedded in the Hill Country’s nonprofit network, deploying volunteers and resources wherever the gap opens.
Hill Country Master Gardeners: 10,000 volunteer hours, 80% tree survival, and a training class starting in March
The organization’s Demonstration Garden at the AgriLife center showcases deer-resistant native plants that perform in the Hill Country’s specific conditions — a living reference library for homeowners, ranchers, and land managers. The First Wednesday public speaker series brings horticultural expertise to the public at no cost.
Hill Country MHDD: ‘It’s okay to not be okay’ — and four mobile vans to prove it
The organization operates four mobile vans that bring mental health services directly to rural communities — including Rocksprings and Hunt — that have no local provider access.
KerrKonnect: 120 people on the waiting list, and every new driver removes three of them
When a person can no longer drive — whether because of age, disability, or medical condition — they do not simply lose a convenience. They lose access to their doctor, their pharmacy, their grocery store, their family. In rural Texas, where there is no bus network and taxis are sparse, that loss is total.
Kerr County River Foundation plants trees, vision for a $3 million park, and waits for the community to understand the river
“The river is our identity,” Walther said. “Its health is directly tied to the local economy, the local culture, and who we are as a place.”
Kerrville Public School Foundation establishes four Zunker family scholarships as it approaches its 40th year
A new partnership with San Antonio’s Tobin Center is now piloting a Gifted and Talented Arts Integration Program within Kerrville ISD. The program brings world-class performing arts education into direct contact with the district’s most advanced students.
Gunny’s Warriors houses 19 veteran families after flood, launches Sept. 11 Flags of Honor
Jan and Mike Pieraccini founded Gunny’s Warriors five years ago in memory of their son, initially focused on traumatic brain injury education and awareness among veterans.
Hunt Preservation Society has returned 32 families to their homes. Eight more projects are in progress.
The society’s permanent mission centers on preserving the “heart of Hunt” — specifically Preservation Park and the historic Hunt Store, which functions as the community’s gathering anchor — and supporting the Hunt CPR program for local businesses. But the floods revealed a gap in existing relief infrastructure that HPS has moved directly into: the legacy home problem.
Kerr Creates: one of 50 cultural districts in Texas, and a Kerrville ziggurat that became a coloring book
“Artists are not just the story keepers but the story makers of our community,” Boyette said Wednesday on Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week. “It’s very important — and about whose story gets told and whose story doesn’t.”
Day 5: Aug. 20, 2026
Nonprofit Week 2026
Kathy and Caitlin: a Walmart trip for white towels, 14 years, and a first-generation Texas A&M graduate
Hall, Caitlin, and board member Jeannie Wanhainen appeared Thursday to represent a program whose local waitlist has grown to 40 children — with an urgent specific shortage: men.
Texas Hill Country Nurses Honor Guard releases nurses from their pledge — at bedside or at the graveside, always free
The Nightingale Pledge — named for Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing — is a professional and moral commitment that nurses carry for the rest of their careers. It is not a document they sign and file. It becomes part of who they are.
Kerr County Cares Foundation: 600 deliveries in 10 months, a volunteer’s garage, and an Ingram woman who grabbed a stranger’s hand and cried
“Just the matter of handing them a simple bag of groceries helped them get to a point where they felt like they could make it to the next,” he said.
224 DWI arrests, 46 smoke shops, and two floods: the Hill Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse is watching the numbers climb
The organization also tracks the local retail landscape. As of June 30, Kerr County had 46 registered hemp retailers — 8.5 stores per 10,000 residents. Neighboring Kendall County had 23.
Guadalupe River Center offers to take over park development so city can redirect $2.2 million to flood repairs
The facility itself is designed as Kerrville’s “community living room” — a public hub for recreation, water access, education, and social gathering.
A Kerrville nurse asked a routine pre-op question. The answer changed both their lives.
Kristy Vandenberg, executive director of the Ultimate Gift of Life Foundation, which is celebrating its 13th year of organ and tissue donation advocacy spoke about the power of the need.
Dietert Center’s dementia program at interview 50: isolation is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day
T. Teresa Salmon — known simply as “T” at the Dietert Center, a nickname adopted because two Teresas work there and confusion is inadvisable in a dementia program — is the Director of Senior Support Services and the driving force behind Dementia Care Advocates.
Bird City Kerrville planted native habitat twice at Flat Rock Park. Both times, the flood took it.
The organization recently secured a $10,000 grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife, earned through a statewide bird survey in which 1,400 participants competed — the teams recording the most birds got to select grant recipients from the event’s admission fees.
Playhouse 2000’s new director inherits a 30-year institution — and a fly rail that still runs on ropes
“Art is meant to teach and delight,” she said. “And so some things delight and some things teach and some things do both. You need a balance.”
Hill Country Crisis Council serves 1,000 individuals a year across six counties — and doesn’t want to be a secret anymore
The Hill Country Crisis Council, incorporated in April 1984, operates what Ives describes as a genuinely rare structure for a rural territory: three distinct programs under a single nonprofit umbrella, serving Kerr, Kendall, Kimble, Bandera, Gillespie, and Mason counties.
Veterans Assistance Dogs of Texas: Cole weighs 120 pounds and has already saved Will Scott’s life
VADogs — which carries no affiliation with the federal Veterans Administration and receives no government funding — has placed 83 specially trained service dogs with disabled Texas veterans since its founding, entirely through private donations.
Day 6: Aug. 21, 2026
Nonprofit Week 2026
Hill Country Arts Foundation lost 75% of its property to the floods. It never closed. And two volunteers hung a show while the staff was shoveling mud.
The Hill Country Arts Foundation has been part of this community for 67 years. The floods destroyed 75% of its physical property. It never closed.
H.E. Butt Foundation: 6,000 hours of recorded history, a 1,900-acre Frio River ranch, and a 3 a.m. phone call on July 16
The foundation’s stated mission is “to cultivate wholeness in people and institutions for the transformation of communities.” Goodyear unpacked “wholeness” as the Hebrew concept of shalom — peace, completion, the opposite of the individualism and distraction he described as defining modern life.
Habitat for Humanity Kerr County went from building 3 houses a year to rebuilding 30. Most of them held in the second flood.
The home at Mariposa — Habitat’s active development at 1804 Weston Loop, where 12 of 13 planned homes are complete and one is under construction — is the last of 10 built specifically for flood survivors in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. Monday’s move-in closes that chapter.
Heart of the Hills Heritage Center: the flood exhibit isn’t ready. It won’t be for 5 to 10 years. That’s exactly right.
The center received a specialized Rebuild Kerr grant from the Community Foundation to build a comprehensive archive of both the 2025 and 2026 floods — oral histories, photographs, digital media, physical artifacts recovered from flood zones.
Kerrville Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association: they turned a pile of donated boots into a walk-in shoe store in two hours
That work — unglamorous, invisible, necessary — earned the association the Texas Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association’s “Association of the Year” award on June 15, 2026. The organization, which has more than 80 members, was the statewide winner specifically because of its 2025 flood response.
Freeman-Fritts Animal Shelter: Shyla has been there 134 days. She rolls herself up in a blanket and disappears.
The shelter is also bridging a specific gap created by the temporary housing crisis. When displaced families lose access to the Airbnb that accepted their pets and move to one that doesn’t, Freeman-Fritts boards the animals until housing stabilizes.
Divinity Family Services: Randy Rose grew up on the campus. He never left.
The ultimate goal, for every child Divinity serves, is a forever home.
Center Point Alliance for Progress: ‘All Hands and Hearts asked me for the 2026 list. I pretty much just copy-pasted 2025.’
Compounding the pressure: fewer local families were able to serve as holiday donors in 2025 because they were navigating their own post-flood financial stress. The demand went up. The donor base contracted.
The Salvation Army Kerrville Kroc: 15,500 kids through the pool this summer — and 3,000 had never been there before
Ashley Phillips, Major Phil Swyers, and front desk supervisor and volunteer coordinator Bonnie Gates appeared Friday on Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week to describe an institution that suffers from what Phillips called an identity problem — residents drive by, see the size of the building, and assume it is not for them.
Executive Women’s Club: gas cards for cancer patients driving from Rock Springs, and a Survivor Walk that makes the room cry
This year’s gala carries a Bavarian Oktoberfest theme — dirndls, lederhosen, a Bavarian hat bar, stein holds, and a non-sharp ax-throwing activity.
Kerr Together has been coordinating flood recovery for a year — and couldn’t legally accept a donation the whole time
Temporary housing remains a significant unsolved problem. Local Airbnb credits are exhausted. The rental market — high prices, low inventory — has pushed some displaced residents to look as far as Fredericksburg and Bandera.
Hill Country Charity Ball raised a record $222,000 last year — and is now watching the flood drain everyone else’s donations
Last year’s ball — held at Sendera Springs with 280 people squeezed into a venue whose normal wedding capacity is 50, dancing moved outside to make it work — raised a record $222,000.
Day 7: Aug. 24, 2026
Nonprofit Week 2026
All Hands and Hearts: ‘Flash flooding typically doesn’t go for 20 miles’
The organization is working in close collaboration with Texas State University and San Antonio regional VOAD — Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters — networks to develop and share mitigation education more broadly.
Light on the Hill: 469 households reached, 200 more this week, and a food pantry Monday morning
Palmer appeared as the opening guest of Nonprofit Week’s final day to describe an organization that has been in continuous disaster response mode since July 4, 2025 — and is, by her own honest assessment, running a marathon with no finish line in sight.
Reach Global: ‘People over projects’ — and a daughter born in a baptistry at the peak of the flood
Reach Global Crisis Response was founded by Mark Lewis during Hurricane Katrina after he observed something most disaster relief organizations miss: survivors often experience their deepest emotional trauma not during the disaster but after — when the crews leave, the house goes quiet, and the weight of what happened finally lands. The organization’s entire model is built to address that gap.
Water Street Festival returns Oct. 24 — and a three-year-old’s dance at Francisco’s is why
Sigerman, a Kerrville City Councilmember, appeared to promote the second annual Water Street Festival — Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. — and to make the case that community events are not optional extras in a flood recovery economy. They are economic survival.
Schreiner Songkeepers: a world-class violist, a strong opinion about AI, and a man who used it to leave a final album for his family
The program works with students of any level. Caldwell described a collaboration with Mac Damon of Stone Creek Sound in which a student who simply wants to write a song about their dog can emerge with a professionally recorded track.
Hill Country Ministries: 192 countries, 10 million emails, Stage 3 cancer, and ‘use it for my glory’
“God impressed on me: use it for my glory,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week — the final guest of the final day of The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week.
Kerr Kids: a military helicopter flew over, and a mother decided her children needed somewhere to play
The operating model is deliberate and worth understanding: Kerr Kids is a stay-and-play facility. Parents do not drop children off and leave. They stay and play alongside their kids. Chavez described watching something she did not expect.
Texas Hill Country Trail Alliance: $113,800 raised, 100 acres of undeveloped park, and a rule about carpet
The alliance’s primary project is Singing Wind Park — 100 acres of city-owned land on the outskirts of Kerrville that has long been underutilized.
Kerr Arts and Cultural Center: Navigating building capacity and there’s a vault sale in the basement
“There’s been so much exhaustion when it comes to the impact of the floods and giving,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week. “All we’re all hungry right now. People just aren’t giving to the arts right now.”
Day 7 Nonprofit Week 2026 video
Day 6 Nonprofit Week 2026 video
Day 5 Nonprofit Week 2026 video
Day 4 Nonprofit Week 2026 video
Day 3 Nonprofit Week 2026 video
Day 2 Nonprofit Week 2026 video
Day 1 Nonprofit Week 2026 video
Latest segment videos from Nonprofit Week 2026
Doyle Community Center: When Town Creek rose 10 feet higher than 2002 flood levels this July, the Doyle Community Center was already at the door — literally. Executive Director Rae Cardenas went house to house checking on neighbors, bought supplies at Home Depot, and opened the center as the recovery hub for the Monterey, Lawson, and West Shriner Street neighborhoods.
Kerrville Ghostbusters: Yes, they’re a real 501(c)(3). The Kerrville Ghostbusters raise money for local kids’ programs through Ghostbusters-themed events — slime labs, proton pack demos, and now the Haunt Porch fundraiser this October. After July’s flood, they drove past Bandera to find horse medicine and donated flood relief supplies to families at the Doyle Center.
Elevate Adult Education: 30 years of GED and ESL instruction in Kerr County. Elevate Adult Education was displaced by the flood and has a new location at 2847 Junction Hwy., Suite E. Fall classes start Sept. 15 — and they urgently need Tuesday and Thursday evening volunteer instructors. No teaching certificate required. No Spanish required. Just two hours a week. Sign up at elevatekerr.com.
Kerr County Stock Show: Since 1933. Nearly $3 million in scholarships. And a president who says the most important lesson the Stock Show teaches is “how to be a loser” — because losing well is a life skill. The annual fundraiser is Sept. 26 at the HCYEC Expo Hall with Buffalo and the Herd. This year adds an Ag Mechanics Exhibition to show week.
Rotary Club of Kerrville: 100 years old and planning the next 100. The Rotary Club of Kerrville — founded in 1926 by Charles Schreiner and Hal Peterson — meets every Wednesday at noon at the Salvation Army Kroc Center. They do water safety education, youth exchange, first responder support, and more. New corporate memberships available.
Hill Country Youth Orchestras: In 40 seasons, more than 2,200 students have come through the Hill Country Youth Orchestras. Some of the most advanced ones now perform side-by-side with the Symphony of the Hills. The youngest — six and seven years old, bows on strings for the first time — get just as much applause at concerts. Auditions open every August.
Tivy High School Golden Girls: The Tivy Golden Girls Booster Club is officially a 501(c)(3) — and they’re fundraising to cover the costs that 56 dancers and their families shouldn’t have to carry alone. Bob and Sue Dad-Daughter Dance: Sept. 25. Junior Dance Clinic: Oct. 3.
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid: If you received a FEMA denial letter — even if it’s been more than 60 days — call Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. They handle flood appeals, title disputes on inherited homes, evictions, and contractor scams. All services are free. Permanent office inside the Doyle Community Center. Hotline: (956) 996-8520. Open house Monday, Aug. 17, 2–6:30 p.m. at the Doyle Center.
Texas Wildlife Association: A new educator just arrived in the Hill Country with 20 years of classroom experience, a master naturalist certification, and a promise to show up in costume. Jolene Amburn is booking free, TEKS-aligned presentations for grades 3-6 across nine counties — covering animal skulls, watershed tables, soil science, and flood awareness.
2025 Nonprofit Week Stories
Kerr Together has been coordinating flood recovery for a year — and couldn’t legally accept a donation the whole time
Temporary housing remains a significant unsolved problem. Local Airbnb credits are exhausted. The rental market — high prices, low inventory — has pushed some displaced residents to look as far as Fredericksburg and Bandera.
Hill Country Charity Ball raised a record $222,000 last year — and is now watching the flood drain everyone else’s donations
Last year’s ball — held at Sendera Springs with 280 people squeezed into a venue whose normal wedding capacity is 50, dancing moved outside to make it work — raised a record $222,000.
Guadalupe River Center offers to take over park development so city can redirect $2.2 million to flood repairs
The facility itself is designed as Kerrville’s “community living room” — a public hub for recreation, water access, education, and social gathering.
Veterans Assistance Dogs of Texas: Cole weighs 120 pounds and has already saved Will Scott’s life
VADogs — which carries no affiliation with the federal Veterans Administration and receives no government funding — has placed 83 specially trained service dogs with disabled Texas veterans since its founding, entirely through private donations.
Community Foundation deploys $5 million and 36 case managers — and still can’t keep up
The foundation’s primary recovery model focuses on immediate stabilization: direct emergency financial assistance, temporary housing, home repairs, down payment assistance, and RV and mobile home replacements. Its ten-county regional footprint means the case management load extends well beyond Kerr County’s borders.
More than 70 nonprofits, seven days: Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week opens Friday with its biggest lineup ever
All segments air live on The Kerr County Lead’s Facebook and YouTube pages and are archived at kerrcountylead.com/forging-connections-nonprofit-week-on-the-lead-live/. The complete schedule is available at that link.
Nonprofit Week 2025: Doyle Community Center
Their annual Blues Fest has grown significantly, attracting over 700 attendees. Doyle maintains a positive relationship with the local police department, which helps build trust within the community.
Nonprofit Week 2025: BCFS Health and Human Services
Another key program is YAD (Youth Averted from Delinquency), which partners with juvenile courts to case manage and divert youth aged 10-17 from trouble, offering community service opportunities. This program is expanding to Gillespie County, including its mentoring component.
Nonprofit Week 2025: Together With Hill Country Veterans
The group aims to tackle underlying causes of suicide, such as financial difficulties, relationship breakdowns, catastrophic medical conditions and isolation, rather than just immediate crises.
Nonprofit Week 2025: Hill Country Heritage Farmers Market
The market, now located at Five Points for shade, canceled its July 5 market due to the flood. They were able to donate 50 pounds of tomatoes to a local restaurant instead of them going to waste.
