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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The ultimate goal, for every child Divinity serves, is a forever home.
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.
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.
This year's gala carries a Bavarian Oktoberfest theme — dirndls, lederhosen, a Bavarian hat bar, stein holds, and a non-sharp ax-throwing activity.
