Charity Partner

Austin Pets Alive! fetches the win in our CultureMap Charity Challenge

Picture this Pet - Austin Pets Alive - Brock 1 - May 2015

We asked, you voted: Austin Pets Alive! is the winner of CultureMap Charity Challenge 2016.

Courtesy of Austin Pets Alive!

In mid-December, we launched our first-ever CultureMap Austin Charity Challenge in order to shine a light on the city’s much-needed nonprofits. Highlighting eight local organizations and their impact on Austin, we released a series of mini-profiles to help you, our readers, decide which of them deserved to be our 2016 charity partner.

The poll has been tallied, and the organization that came out on top was Austin Pets Alive! (APA) with over 50 percent of the vote. By winning the 2016 Charity Challenge, APA will receive a CultureMap advertising package worth $10,000.

APA maintains comprehensive, innovative programs designed to save animals most at risk for euthanasia. Since 2008, APA has saved more than 30,000 pets and found them forever homes.

APA has created programs like The PASS Program (Positive Alternative to Shelter Surrender), which provides assistance to pet owners who may be unable to house their pets, significantly reducing the number of animals that enter the shelter system.

Through developing innovative programs for at-risk animals, APA has helped Austin become and maintain its status as the largest no-kill city in the country. We at CultureMap look forward to this Charity Challenge partnership and helping to further the nonprofit’s important work in our community.

For more information on Austin Pets Alive! and how you can get involved, visit the website.

families charity-challenge inspiration

Charity Profile

Sustainable Food Center cultivates healthy gardeners and cooks across Austin

Photo courtesy of Sustainable Food Center

The Sustainable Food Center provides resources and education to strengthen the local food system.

Editor's note: CultureMap is committed to shining a light on Austin-area nonprofits and their impact on our community. So, we're launching the first-ever CultureMap Austin Charity Challenge, highlighting deserving local organizations — one of which will become our charity partner for 2016 based on readers' votes. Get to know one of our eight finalists, Sustainable Food Center.

Since 1993, Austin's Sustainable Food Center (SFC) has provided resources and education to strengthen the local food system and provide access to healthy foods for all. Evolving from its 1975 roots as Austin Community Garden, SFC envisions a healthy future where every adult and child can grow, share, and prepare foods from their own garden.

With programs like Grow Local, which supports home, school, and community gardens through education and training, and the Farm Direct program, which connects local farmers to schools and residents to enrich the economy while keeping families healthy, SFC is a pillar of the Austin food community.

SFC hosts four of the largest farmers markets in Texas, all located in Austin. These markets host more farmers than anywhere else in Austin and are open rain or shine every week, year-round. In addition to vendors offering up fresh, locally grown foods, the markets feature live music, flowers, hand-crafted goods, and more. True to its vision of an empowered, inclusive community of healthy eaters, SNAP and WIC benefits are accepted at the markets.

Donations to SFC help cultivate a community of healthy gardeners and cooks in the Austin area.

Vote now for Sustainable Food Center — or any of the other worthy local nonprofits — in the CultureMap Charity Challenge running through December 30. A winner will be announced January 5, 2016, and will receive a CultureMap advertising package worth $10,000.

health charity-challenge families