Giving back

Click and give: Give as you Get makes it easy to do good

Who doesn't want to do something selfless during the holidays? It's the season of giving, for goodness sake. If you're not volunteering or throwing money at a good cause or inside a red tin can, you must not have a heart.

Or maybe you have a heart but are too preoccupied with shopping, partying, eating, cooking, traveling and working. If only the season of giving was in August when there's all the time in the world.

Allow me to introduce all of you busybodies to Give as You Get. It's the perfect solution for those of you who want to do something nice this holiday season but suffer from TBD (too busy disorder).

Give as You Get is a local website that allows you to give back to the community by simply shopping online. "Through regular shopping people have an ability to really make a difference in their community," says founder and CEO David Sandal.

Sandal, a former businessman with a passion for giving, combined his years of experience in technology and business to create the site which brings together the wants of buyers with the needs of non-profits.

The concept is quite simple: first, you choose a local non-profit you'd like to support. There are more than 40 to choose from, including Meals on Wheels and More, Austin Creative Alliance and the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.

Next, you pick the store you need. Some of the participating vendors are Best Buy, Cabela's and Barnes and Nobles. You purchase what you want and up to five percent of the purchase price (depending on the vendor) is donated to your favorite non-profit. It's that simple.

Give as You Get launched in May and has raised more than $1,000 for area non-profit organizations. Sandal expects that number to grow exponentially this holiday season and beyond.

"We have an opportunity to bring back initially cents, then dollars, and then hundreds of dollars and hopefully hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it's all done with simple commerce," Sandal said.

Not only does Give as You Get allow you to give while you shop, you don't even have to leave your couch to do it all. Now there's no excuse for not doing something good this holiday season and throughout the year.

---

Sandal is one of several local businesses using commerce to give back to the community. You can learn more about them at Change My Town, a non-profit Sandal recently created to showcase “for benefit” companies like GIVE Realty, Alt Creative and Generous Art, who use their business to support the community and non-profits.

unspecified series568664015

Shelter to Service

Dripping Springs nonprofit trains service dogs rescued from shelters

Photo courtesy of KVUE

The group estimates that it's gotten more than 1,000 dogs out of the shelter system.

For the past 35 years, a service dog training nonprofit in Dripping Springs has transformed unwanted dogs into essential partners for Texans living with significant challenges.

Sheri Soltes, founder and CEO of Service Dogs, Inc., says the dogs they train help serve people with hearing or mobility disabilities. The canines also comfort those enduring traumatic events.

In a time where most animal shelters in Central Texas are over capacity, Service Dogs, Inc. is handing out second chances to pups with potential to make a difference in people’s lives.

“They're sort of like the cousins to guide dogs,” Soltes said. “Except we're unique because we get our dogs from animal shelters instead of having a breeding program. So we help the dog and we help the person.”

She says the nonprofit can’t adopt every dog because the pups must meet specific qualifications, narrowing down from their age to their temperament.

Soltes says dogs must be at least a year and a half old in order to be X-rayed to assess their health, must be extremely people-oriented and should be comfortable being in public settings.

She says Service Dogs, Inc. may bring back one out of 500 dogs in a shelter.

“We've probably trained well over a 1,000, probably closer to 1,200 dogs by this time over 36 years. Any dog that we adopt from a shelter, if it doesn't complete the training, we don't take it back to the shelter, will find it a good pet home. So, they're going to win either way with us,” Soltes said.

Depending on the pooches’ temperament and personality, they’ll be trained in any and all of four programs available.

Soltes says the nonprofit trains the canines to be hearing dogs that can alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They could be trained for people with mobility disabilities, learning to open and close doors or steady someone’s balance.

She says they also train dogs to work in areas devastated by catastrophic storms, in courthouses in the victim's assistance departments or with first responders struggling with their mental health.

“They're not always the right tool for every kind of job, but they're very, very helpful,” she said.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

animals pets disability shelter

Giving back

Click and give: Give as you Get makes it easy to do good

A frozen custard closure and New Year's menus renew Austin food news

Austin makes merry as one of the best cities to celebrate Christmas

Pflugerville chef brings Vietnamese eats to Hutto with new concept

Shelter to Service

Dripping Springs nonprofit trains service dogs rescued from shelters