ARW Programs and Projects
It’s true the foremost activity of Austin Republican Women (ARW) is working to elect Republican candidates who seek public office. That effort is achieved through ARW’s Candidate Support program which provides the framework for fundraising and candidate support activities.
Yet, not all of what Austin Republican Women (ARW) does is political. There’s another side of ARW that focuses on the causes we believe in – such as, supporting our military troops and veterans, and caring for our local communities. Those efforts through which we strive to make a positive difference in our communities often fall within our Caring for America program and the Barbara Bush Literacy Program.
Caring for America Program
Supporting Deployed Military Troops – Since ARW embraces the ideal that only a strong America can remain a free America, we actively support our Texas-based military. Often during the year, we host Packing Parties to assemble care packages of donated items for sending to deployed military troops stationed around the globe. It’s our way of saying, thank you for your sacrifice, we know it’s not easy.
ARW received the letter below from Maj. Pete Ammerman, Texas National Guard troops deployed in Afghanistan, thanking us for the Troop Support packages and letters that we sent in Spring 2019. Thanks to everyone involved for your support. It truly is meaningful to those Troops who are deployed in difficult parts of our world!
Supporting Our Troops’ Families – Through other donations and collaborations, ARW ensures our troops’ families here at home are remembered during holidays and when it’s time for back to school. We believe caring for the families of our deployed troops is also a way to care for our troops.
Supporting Veterans – And we don’t forget the American veterans who are stateside now and in need of assistance. As a community partner of Patriot PAWS Service Dogs Program, ARW has raised funds to help provide trained service dogs to disabled veterans who seek to regain their independence. Because ladies in ARW raised $10,000, we were able to name a puppy to be trained. These are photos of our dog, Austin.
Lending a Local Hand – In winters past, as an example, ARW’s Caring for America program collected and donated warm clothing and blankets to Austinites in need. In response to Austin’s recent homeless “crisis,” ARW members worked with Scott Pressler and other volunteers to clean up areas of the city overrun with homeless camp trash and debris.
And to recognize and support the life-saving work of the 100 Club of Central Texas which assists injured Austin police officers, families of officers injured or killed, and service dogs of the Austin Police Department, a Caring for America initiative this past year raised funds for the 100 Club from individual donations and from the sale of Back the Blue wrist bands and decals.
Statewide Community Service Project – in January 2019, ARW joined other Texas Federation of Republican Women (TFRW) clubs in a statewide service project that recognized January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. ARW and other TFRW clubs across the state donated items for making first-response backpacks for Traffick911, a nonprofit that works in close partnership with law enforcement and first responders to provide services and support to child sex trafficking victims.
Barbara Bush Literacy Program
A core philosophy that ARW shares with the National Federation of Republican Women is “the right of an individual to achieve the best that is within him/her …” Without literacy, ARW members believe, little can be achieved in life.
Through its Barbara Bush Literacy Program, ARW supports the work of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the vision of its founder, former first lady Barbara Pierce Bush, to “foster the opportunity for every man, woman and child to secure a better life through literacy.” By donating books to local libraries, schools and shelters, ARW members strive to give our communities’ parents and children an equal chance to succeed in life.
