Amplify Austin: Volunteer from your desk (or phone)!

February 14, 2017 by Cara Leave a Comment

amplifylarge-01-01
On March 2-3, The Christi Center will once again participate in Amplify Austin, a citywide day of online giving. This year our goal is to raise $40,000 in 24 hours, which would support the cost of providing grief support services for 40 adults for an entire year!

To reach this goal, we’re looking for ambassadors who are willing to set up an online fundraising page to share with family and friends via email and social media (or even snail mail) during Amplify Austin. Your campaign can be as small or large as you like, and you can also promote your page earlier and encourage folks to schedule donations in advance. Some of our Christi Center friends run campaigns in memory of loved ones, and this is a great way to honor them while giving back to our Christi Center community.

In honor of our 30th anniversary this year, we’d like to have 30 ambassadors who are willing to set up fundraising pages and campaigns. Will you be one of them? Sign up here today!

PS Mark your calendars and save the date for our Amplify Austin kickoff party on March 2nd at 6 pm!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I don’t like asking people for money. Why should I do this?

A: There are two reasons. Word of mouth is the #1 way people learn about The Christi Center. The more you talk about it, the more likely it is that people who need us will hear about us. Everyone experiences grief, and this is a great way for you to increase awareness in your circles about The Christi Center’s services. The second reason is that the only way we’re able to keep our services free to everyone who needs them is through fundraising. This is not JUST asking for money. It’s sharing your personal story to help someone walking the grief journey behind you.

Q: How much do I have to raise?

A: Totally up to you! Our Christi Center collective goal is $40,000 – your campaign goal can be as small as $250 and as big as you like!

Q: What am I asking for money for?

A: The Christi Center uses all funds raised to provide free, ongoing grief support groups for children and adults who are adjusting to life after the death of a loved one. If you’ve come to groups at the Center, this is a great way for you to pay it forward to those traveling the grief journey behind you and keep our services free of charge to all who need them!

Q: So what all is involved with this?

A: We keep it as simple as possible. We’ll help you set up an online fundraising page and send you the link. You can spread the word about your campaign in several ways:

Send an email with the link to your page to friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc. letting them know why The Christi Center is important to you and asking them to make a gift. Some people ask for gifts in memory of their loves ones and that is a great way to honor your loved one’s memory.
Share the link to your page on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – wherever you are and feel comfortable! In addition to your story, you can share facts and information on The Christi Center (we’ll send you this info throughout the campaign).
Bring your family and friends to the Purple Zebra Birthday Party at The Christi Center on March 2^nd from 6:30 to 8:30 pm! This free celebration is our Amplify Austin Kickoff (we’re also celebrating our 30^th anniversary) and a great way for people in your circle to see The Christi Center themselves!

Q: I’m going to be out of town/busy on March 2-3, can I still participate?

A: YES! The beauty of this e-campaign is that you can do it from anywhere that you have your phone or laptop! You can also ask people to schedule donations in advance – so if you’d rather run the campaign earlier than March 2^nd, you can do that as well.

Q: Got it. I’m social-media savvy and I’m ready to take my campaign to the next level. Where can I get ideas/inspiration?

A: Amplify Austin (the lead organization in this city-wide day of giving) is an AMAZING resource – they offer toolkits, trainings (there’s a great one on February 11^th from 11 to 1 that you can also take online), and more. Contact us and we’ll send you direct links to all this information.

Q: You missed something or I did – I still don’t get it.

A: We’re here for you! Fill out this form or call 512-467-2600 and we’ll walk you through it all. Thanks so much for supporting grieving families and The Christi Center in this way – we’re grateful for you.

Filed Under: Blog, News, volunteering Tagged With: Amplify Austin, AmplifyATX, events, fundraising, giving back, tributes to loved ones, volunteer

7 Reasons to Donate to The Christi Center TODAY (or tomorrow)

March 20, 2014 by Cara Leave a Comment

You may have heard us talking about a little thing called Amplify Austin over the past few weeks? In case you missed it, Amplify Austin is a city-wide day of giving. Collectively, over 400 nonprofits across Austin are trying to raise $4 million in 24 hours (6 pm March 20th to 6 pm March 21). The Christi Center’s goal is $17,000.

Will you help us?

With over 400 amazing causes to choose from, why support The Christi Center?

1. Your gift helps solve a problem that every person in our community will face. 8,000 people will die in Austin this year – each one leaving behind a grieving circle of family and friends. 100% of us will lose someone we love, and most of us already have. We provide free, ongoing grief support to people who are adjusting to life after the death of a loved one. Doesn’t it make you feel just a little better knowing that The Christi Center is here to support you (and your family and friends) anytime you need it?

2. Grief may feel like the worst heartache you can experience, but left unresolved it can actually lead to bigger problems. You know the old adage “Time heals everything”? A grieving heart does begin to heal on it’s own timeframe, but about 15% of people will experience Complicated Grief, which has been linked to substance abuse, major depression and even physical illnesses like cancer. Resolving grief depends on a lot – your relationship with the deceased, the nature of the death, your other support systems, and more. Any of us are at risk for a grieving process that becomes more complicated than we expected – The Christi Center is always here for you if that happens.

3. Kids and teens grieve too – and imagine how it feels to be the only kid in your class that’s even experienced grief. One in 7 kids will grieve the death of a parent or sibling before the age of 20. Because grief often looks different in children and teens and influences their school performance, friends/social choices and more, it’s critical that kids have access to a support network of other kids who understand what they’re going through. We offer twice monthly groups for children at teens at our 2 locations in Austin and Georgetown, and we also offer groups onsite at local schools for kids who can’t come to us.

4. Most people don’t know how to help someone who is grieving. Awkwardness and avoidance are common responses, neither of which are helpful to the bereaved. To help us all better support the grieving people in our lives, The Christi Center partners with helping professionals, churches, and community groups to offer training on grief and bereavement. No one should have to walk the grief journey alone – and you can be one of the people that helps them.

5. Your support keeps all our services free of charge to anyone who needs them, for as long as they need them – including you. We serve 500 people a year through our support groups and another 2500 through our information/referral network and training on grief and bereavement. We’ve been serving Central Texas for 26 years and we’re a one-stop shop for any questions on how to get support after a loss. Your gift makes that possible. Donate today.

6. Your dollar goes a long way here. We have over 200 volunteers that give us the equivalent of 5 full-time staff worth of hours. We only have about 3 full-time equivalent staff that we pay, and we own our property debt-free. This means that it only costs us about $500 to serve one grieving person for an entire year.

7. You’re lucky to live in Austin. Forbes magazine named us America’s Fastest Growing City in 2014 for a lot of awesome reasons – you’re lucky you live here already! And you’re even more fortunate that a place like The Christi Center exists – appropriate grief support is sometimes hard to find, but grief support that is completely free of charge is a real gift to our community. Help make sure that The Christi Center can keep up with demand generated by Austin’s growth. Support our great city and The Christi Center by donating through Amplify Austin today.

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: Amplify Austin, AmplifyATX, fundraising, giving back, tributes to loved ones

25 years: How We’ve Grown

February 26, 2013 by Melissa Bjordal 1 Comment

For 25 years, Susan and Don Cox and friends of The Christi Center (formerly For the Love of Christi) have been working to provide love, hope, comfort, and ongoing support to those who are adjusting to life after the death of a loved one, regardless of the circumstances; and to educate the community on grief and other concerns of the bereaved.

As we prepare for our Amplify Austin campaign, we’d love to share more information about our organization – where we’ve been, how we’re growing, future anticipated needs, and why we need your help! This is a look at how we’ve grown in our most recent years.

How We’ve Grown

25 years of providing love, hope, comfort and support to 75,000 grieving Central Texans
A newly expanded building in Austin that provides dedicated space for our children and teen programs, additional group meeting rooms, and staff offices
A satellite office in Georgetown that allows us to meet the growing need generated by Austin’s northward expansion
Strong partnership with Austin Independent School District (AISD) that allows us to offer grief support groups at 5 to 7 schools a semester
A partnership with Austin Recovery Center (ARC) to serve men and women in substance abuse recovery with grief issues
Specialized groups to meet the needs of those who have lost loved ones to crime and suicide
A new name that better reflects who we are and what we do

We are excited for how we’ve grown! But we aren’t stopping here…. there are still people who need our help!! In our next blog post in the “25 years” series, we’ll share information on our anticipated future growth needs and why we need your help.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Amplify Austin, AmplifyATX, fundraising, giving back, organizational growth

How does your donation help us support grieving people?

February 25, 2013 by Melissa Bjordal Leave a Comment

3,000 grieving Central Texans a year depend on us for grief support services, and we’re always here for them.

Heart in nature. Photo courtesy of Ashley Kelly.

The Christi Center relies on individual donations to continue offering ongoing grief support at no charge to all who need it, regardless of their circumstances. The majority of our funding comes from individual donors, with most donations between $10 and $250.

By making a gift to The Christi Center, you helped connect 650 grieving adults and 75 grieving children with others who understand. Over 2,000 others learned how to better support grieving people through our trainings and education. The Christi Center provides a safe place to grieve and heal, but gifts such as yours make it possible for us to realize our vision of a community where no one has to grieve alone.

We thought you’d like to know HOW you made a difference:

♥ 272 grieving people came to the Center for the first time in 2012

♥ 67 children at 8 schools participated in grief groups – they faced transportation constraints and couldn’t have participated in groups unless we served them at school.

83% of them said the groups helped them learn ways to express and cope with feelings about their loss
70% said the groups helped them do better in school

♥ Over 400 people attended group sessions through our partnership with Austin Recovery Center.

100% said the group helped them recognize how grief can contribute to recovery issues
94% said it was helpful to the recovery process to connect with others who understand

♥ We now serve children in Williamson County! In November, we started a Kids Who Kare group for grieving kids ages 5-12 at our Williamson County location, and this group is growing quickly!

♥ We trained 205 school counselors/social workers on grief in children and teens and provided them with our curriculum for school groups so they could use these resources at their campuses.

In 2012 we celebrated 25 years of service to Central Texas, and we were thrilled to see so many of you at special events throughout the year – from our reunion potluck dinners in the spring, to Moonlight and Memories at Hill’s Café in October, to our Annual Remembrance Service at year-end. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for our many friends who maintain lifelong heart connections to The Christi Center. There will be lots of opportunities to stay connected this year, so please keep in touch! Here’s how:

Subscribe to our e-newsletter
Subscribe to our blog feed
Find us on Facebook and Twitter
Volunteer! Learn more about our opportunities and submit your application.

And finally, when you hear about someone who needs us – bring them to us. The Christi Center is always here for you, and we are a safe place to grieve and heal.

Thank you for all you do to support our “heart work”. We could not do it without you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Amplify Austin, AmplifyATX, fundraising, philanthropy

Amplify Austin Kick-off Party & Potluck

February 21, 2013 by Melissa Bjordal Leave a Comment

We are happy to be part of Amplify Austin, a 24-hour event designed to encourage philanthropy in our city!

The city-wide goal is $1 million dollars and 300 nonprofit organizations are participating,

including The Christi Center!

Join us for our Amplify Austin Kick-off Party & Potluck!

Date: Monday, March 4, 2013

Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Location: The Christi Center, 2306 Hancock Drive

Please bring a potluck dish, we’ll provide the beverages and paper/plasticware!

RSVP: http://amplifychristicenter.eventbrite.com

Anyone who donates between 7pm-8pm will receive a Christi Center reusable tote bag as a thank you gift!

If you are interested in becoming an Individual Fundraiser (with a goal of raising $1000) for The Christi Center, please email our Manager of Volunteer Resources, Jocelyn Brown, jocelyn@christicenter.org

(Minimum donation amount is $25 and set by Amplify Austin. Thank you, as always, for your support!)

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Amplify Austin, AmplifyATX, community, events, fundraising

Amplify Austin, 24 hours of philanthropy

February 4, 2013 by Melissa Bjordal Leave a Comment

We are happy to be part of Amplify Austin, a 24-hour event designed to encourage philanthropy in our city! The city-wide goal is $1 million dollars and 300 nonprofit organizations are participating, including us! We will be sharing more information over the next few weeks on how you can participate!

Mark your calendar: Amplify Austin starts at 7pm on March 4 and ends at 7pm March 5th.

During this 24-hour period, Christi Center staff, members, and ambassadors will be sharing information about our organization, telling our personal stories about our experiences, and delivering updates on our progress towards our fundraising goal! Please be sure you are signed up for our newsletter, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more at the Amplify Austin website. Interested in becoming an Ambassador for The Christi Center? Email Jocelyn Brown for more information.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Amplify Austin, AmplifyATX, collaboration, fundraising, philanthropy

25 Years of Hope and Healing

October 30, 2012 by Melissa Bjordal Leave a Comment

On October 6th, over 300 friends of The Christi Center gathered at Hill’s Cafe for Moonlight and Memories, honoring the 25th anniversary of The Christi Center!

Our friends at Music Doing Good put on an amazing show and we enjoyed a sumptuous buffet and danced the night away to Johnny Dee’s Rocket 88’s.

It was a magical evening, and we’d like to thank all of you who supported us by attending, sponsoring, volunteering, donating, and buying raffle tickets. Together you raised over $30,000 and it’s not too late to donate now if you haven’t already! For every $500 that we raise, we can provide a year’s worth of free, ongoing grief support to someone who is adjusting to life after the death of a loved one. Thank you for being a light of hope and healing.

Paper Moon photo booth

Check out both the party pics and the Paper Moon photo booth shots! You can grab them directly from the sites – feel free to share, post and tag them – and find us on Facebook and post your own photos when you do!

Congratulations to our raffle ticket winners – Patricia Stuart (trip to Vegas), Dorothy Taylor (iPad), Mark Klingseisen (jewelry), and Marlene Smith (flat-screen TV).

Special thanks to our major sponsors: John R. Rogers Photography, McCoy & Remme Family, Multimedia Games, Austin Manufacturing Services, AW Media, Foster Financial Services and GSD&M. For a complete list of our our wonderful sponsors, visit our website.

Photos courtesy of Donna Mossholder and John R. Rogers Photography.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 25th Anniversary, events, fundraising, grief, Hill's Cafe, Moonlight and Memories, Music Doing Good