Maximizing Hope, Our Story

It started with ice and a case of Gatorade in a couple of ice chests on a 107 degree Texas morning.

I had driven past the group of tents under a bridge near my neighborhood for more than six years. (I know this because one of our ladies told me she had been there that long.) In the 17 years I’ve lived here, I’ve passed the intersections many times each day, often seeing the same people camped there day after day, then year after year.

If I’m being honest, in my middle-class-ed-ness I would hand out a couple of dollars or bring by leftovers and feel really good about myself.

I also felt sadness, concern, and, like many of us, sometimes irritation.

I didn’t understand why these folks would not just get the help that Austin says it has for them. Why didn’t they just go and get shelter from the social services and programs available here?

But on one sweltering day in 2020, I felt called to not just take things but to stop and talk to the people I had driven by so often. That day I met two incredible humans who called that bridge home. They made me realize these folks are my neighbors as much as the people who live on my block. They were kind, grateful, and smart.

I came home and cried. 

I realized my neighbors were living in third world conditions within a mile of my home — and they needed help.

With friends, family, and neighborhood support, we decided to keep bringing drinks, food, and other items to the campsites to make our neighbors safer and more comfortable. As we started regularly visiting the camps under US 183 in Austin, we began serving over 100 people a week.

Walking hand-in-hand with our neighbors as they navigate from sleeping outdoors to sleeping in their own homes, we’ve become an efficient team of volunteer “case workers.”

We still bring ice and Gatorade, but we also bring hope, and, sometimes, hugs.

With your support, we can keep rebuilding lives, one step at a time.

Tonya Coy

Founder & Volunteer