Adopt-A-Family

How to brighten up the holidays for Austin military families

It may only be September, but the holidays will be here before you know it. Then it’s time for gifts, big meals, and family gatherings. But for some military and veteran families who survive on a very tight budget, these celebrations will be out of the question.

Enter national nonprofit Soldiers ’ Angels, based in San Antonio, which has developed a program to help ease the stress of the holiday season for qualified military and veteran families. Through its unique Adopt-A-Family program, sponsors can "adopt" a family for the holiday season. The sponsor — who can be an individual, family, or even company — provides gifts for the children as well as a prepaid card for the family to purchase their holiday dinner with all the trimmings.

The goal is to help America show its gratitude for the sacrifices these families have made in service to our country. Without the assistance of programs like Adopt-A-Family, many military and veteran families would go without any type of holiday celebration — and that's just not right.

The program is open to families of deployed service members and families of post-9/11 wounded, ill, and injured service members. Selection is need-based and is determined by Soldiers’ Angels representatives.

Want to sign up to be a sponsor? First you need to become a Team Angel, which is like being a virtual volunteer. Once you’re in the Team Angel database, you can not only Adopt-A-Family, but also contribute to any of Soldiers’ Angels’ 11 other volunteer teams that work year-round: Deployed Adoptions, Chaplain Support, Special Operations Forces, Angel Bakers, Ladies of Liberty, Letter Writing, Cards Plus, Operation Top Knot, Women of Valor, Sewing & Crafting, and Living Legends.

Soldiers’ Angels also encourages businesses to consider participating in the event. Working directly with the nonprofit’s staff, businesses are able to adopt multiple families — making this a great holiday charity event for employees. Interested businesses should reach out to Jennifer Cernoch directly: jcernoch@soldiersangels.org.

For full details — and some very helpful FAQs — about the program and how to get involved, visit the Adopt-A-Family website.

Adopt-A-Family helps service members and their loved ones celebrate the holidays.

Photo courtesy of Soldiers' Angels

Adopt-A-Family helps service members and their loved ones celebrate the holidays.

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Where the 1 percent live

2 Austin suburbs cash in among the richest places in Texas for 2023

Photo courtesy of Spaces and Faces Photography

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Central Texans wanting a glimpse into the lives of the 1 percent won't have to travel far to get a peek. Lakewayhas been renamed the fifth richest place in Texas for 2023 in a recent study. Southlake, in the DFW, took the top spot, reprising its past success.

HomeSnacks.com has been ranking cities, neighborhoods, counties, and states across America for more than five years, using data from the Census Bureau, OpenStreetMaps, the FBI, and other sources. For this year's study, released January 18, the website compared 355 cities with populations of at least 5,000 people to determine where "the richest of the rich" live.

With a median income of $239,833, and an unemployment rate of just 2.2 percent, it's no surprise to see Southlake flashing cash around. HomeSnacks shows the median home price for Southlake at $697,000, but as of this writing, Realtor.com lists the city's median home price listing at $1.3 million.

Lakeway came in fifth, with a median home price of $481,900 and a median income of $142,566. Bee Cave, where the median income is $100,179, moved up four spots from 13th last year to ninth this year. Unfortunately, although both cost a pretty penny to stick around, neither made the site's Top 10 Best Places To Live In Texas, which several of the cities in other metro areas did, ostensibly getting more bang for their buck.

It appears that wealth is not only moving into Texas, but moving around, as well. Heath is up 8 spots from last year, breaking into the Top 10 at No. 7, followed by Highland Village at No. 8, up a huge 17 rankings.

Elsewhere in Texas ...

The Houston suburb of Bellaire came in at No. 2 with a whopping median income of $211,202 and other signifiers of affluence, moving up two spots from last year's rankings. Pearland, with a median income of $107,941 is the only other Houston-area city to rank in the top 20, squeaking in at number 20.

San Antonio's top spot was Alamo Heights. Ranked third, the area had a median income of $147,475 and an even lower unemployment rate than Southlake and Bellaire at 1.4 percent. The median home price on the list was similar to the cities that beat it, too, despite the very different income bracket, at $614,000. Bexar and Comal county cities Fair Oaks Ranch and Bulverde came in 16th and 17th. Median income in Fair Oaks Ranch is $127,917, while it's just $100,419 in Bulverde.

Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs dominated the list overall; a total of 13 cities in the area cashed in with a top-20 ranking. Lucas, a Collin County suburb with a population of 7,612 in the 2020 census, came in fourth, moving up from fifth place last year. With a poverty rate of just 1.1 percent and a median income of $159,563, the (comparatively) tiny little town is a haven for the well-heeled. Falling into the "more than comfortable" range are Coppell (No. 6), Heath (No. 7), and Highland Village (No. 8). HomeSnacks' 10th through 15th places are occupied by Keller, Royse City, Corinth, Krum, Rockwall, and Roanoke, in that order.

Texas' top 10 richest cities for 2023 are:

1. Southlake
2. Bellaire
3. Alamo Heights
4. Lucas
5. Lakeway
6. Coppell
7. Heath
8. Highland Village
9. Bee Cave
10. Keller

Visit HomeSnacks' website to see the top 100 richest cities in Texas, download the full list and rankings, or search to see where your city came in on the list.

HomeSnacks North Texans Southlake Tarrant County rankings