Wimberley Good Neighbor a new nonprofit to help directly
Poverty is here, and people are in desperate situations due to the pandemic and snowstorm of recent history. Maybe not in plain sight, but it’s there. A family catastrophe can wipe out a family’s budget in the blink of an eye.
“Wimberley is growing and a lot of the new people moving here seem not to be church-goers—we want to tap into that community for donations. (Most of) the nonprofits in town right now are church-based, except Crisis Bread Basket,” Carroll Wilson of the Wimberley Good Neighbors’ Board of Directors said. “And I love the idea, because I think I think we’re kind of the surety of last resort, is when people have run the gamut of other (options for help.)”
The driving force behind the group, Ava Braslau, had prior experience at another non-profit and knew that there was room in Wimberley for more. With a little arm twisting he was able to form a board of directors. As a 501(c) 3 organization, they hoped to offer something different to those willing to donate.
“We are different from the other nonprofits in town because donors get to learn about the story of the person they are helping and exactly how their donation is used. We follow up with the client months later to let the donors know how the family is doing and how their donation made a difference,” said Deena Gardow, of the WGN Board.
That one big difference can give a personal connection to those who donate. The first case was a success. Three people living in one room means sleeping on the floor.
“She’s a single mom living on $800 a month, one room, not one bedroom, one room, with no kitchen, a 16-year-son, and 10-yearold daughter in the center of town. She doesn’t have enough money for a deposit to move since she’s been working part-time, and her savings went to buy a used car. Her hours just increased at Deer Creek, and she’s earning more. We thought it makes more sense to help her find a deposit and a new place to live that’s in her budget of $1,000 a month,” Ava Breslau said.
“We take our fiduciary responsibility to the community seriously. We are governed by a board of directors who follow a set of bylaws that were reviewed and approved by an attorney. We are 100% transparent: Our budget and donation amount will be posted on the website at the end of the year. We are a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. All donations are linked to our accountant and go directly into a spreadsheet and accounted for immediately,” Wilson said. There are no pledges.
“This is sort of a whole new approach… If you’re going to be a supporter, you go to the website and you put your credit card in there. So we actually collect the money, and then get it to the person who needs it. It’s a unique way to do that.”
Their first success story has led to another and WGN is getting it done. “If there is a need to help a neighbor in this community who has fallen through the cracks of support, we will try to help them. We’ll be able to vet and highlight one to three families per month,” said Itzel White, WGN Board Member.
To see the progress of their second soon to be success story at their website at wimberleygoodneighbor. org.