With November, we begin a potent season—giving, receiving, remaining open to mystery. I’m wrapping up 2025 a little early to share some of the people, events, and projects that inspire me to care and to act this season and throughout the year—all in the spirit of mutual aid, where we give and receive as equals.
“If, when we work, we can look once a day upon the face of mystery, then our labor satisfies. We are lightened when our gifts rise from pools we cannot fathom. Then we know they are not a solitary egotism and they are inexhaustible.” — Lewis Hyde, “The Gift Must Always Move,” CoEvolution Quarterly, Fall 1982.
PEOPLE
Martha Durke, inspiring San Antonio artist, writer, and genealogist. Martha Durke Art + Design.
Savannah Fagan, neighbor who provides haircuts and carefully crafted meals to people who sleep under the stars. Recently, she started a new Facebook group, Love in Action Austin, and participates in monthly community care events at Violet Crown City Church, 1300 Morrow, Austin (see November 15 and January 3, 2026, above).
Jes Garcia, admin of The Dazed Group/Austin Edition-Pieces Of The Past on Facebook. Jes and the late Bobby Musto founded the group in 2013, creating a forum for members to share and discuss Austin history in a knowledgeable, caring, and civil way. Learn more.
Kathy Miller, a longtime (and my) hairstylist’s courageous journey with leukemia in Austin. See “Specialized blood cancer treatment in Austin saves woman battling leukemia with bone marrow transplant” on KXAN.com.
Edward “Eddie” Walker and friends. For years, Eddie spent time on the corner of Justin and Woodrow visiting with many Brentwood and Crestview neighbors, until his unexpected passing in June 2025. Learn more (see 2025, bottom of the page).
And, the neighbor who for more than a year has helped another neighbor by staying in close touch with him and caring for his home while he is in rehab after a serious accident.
THE LATEST
October 24 • H-E-B announced it has committed $5 million to support Texas food banks and $1 million to benefit Texas Meals on Wheels programs. Learn more. Also, in November and December H-E-B will again host its Feast of Sharing holiday gatherings, serving more than 340,000 dinners in Texas and Mexico. Feast of Sharing calendar.
October 24 • Voices of the Violet Crown provided research on the Clarence McCullough home in an effort to save it from demolition. It was built in 1938 at 2514 Wooldridge Drive, Austin. Among their other accomplishments, Clarence McCullough and Joseph S. Koenig developed the Violet Crown Shopping Center on North Lamar, an early Austin shopping center where scenes from the film Dazed and Confused were filmed in the 1990s, and the Violet Crown Heights neighborhood in Brentwood beginning in the late 1940s. (In earlier November 2025, the home was approved for demolition.)
October 30 • Preservation Austin received an Honor Award from Preservation Texas for its rehabilitation of the 1947 McFarland-McBee House, its headquarters. Learn more. (PA focused its 2016 homes tour, above right, on the Allandale, Brentwood, and Crestview neighborhoods; program here.) (See also November 18, below.)
November 1 • Friends of Brentwood Park held another productive It’s My Park Day. For the past few years, FOBP has been led by Kat Correa, one of the group’s founders and active in the group since Brentwood Park, 6710 Arroyo Seco, was adopted in 2009. She also has coordinated the twice-a-year It’s My Park Day events and has recruited new leaders and many other volunteers for the group. In 2025, she developed a new FOBP website, featuring lots of great park history, a page dedicated to neighbors remembered by plaques, benches, and trees in the park, and much more. Opportunities to volunteer and donate. Facebook group.
November and December • Neighborhood Helpers holiday gives, part of a year-round free pantry project including food, toiletries, household items, and clothing, coordinated by Mary Pierce. Opportunities to donate and volunteer — Sign up to help with the November and December holiday gives and join the Facebook group.
COMING UP
November 6, 4-6 p.m. • Artist and Brentwood neighbor Jean Graham, creator of the mosaic Wall of Welcome, and Domino, the 12-foot-long puppet she also created, will celebrate her new publication Grassroots & Violet Crowns. A chapter from her recent memoir, it’s the inspiring story of how the mosaic wall, Violet Crown Festival, and related projects have transformed the Brentwood and Crestview neighborhoods, beginning in 2003. Violet Crown Wine Bar & Coffee Shop, 7100 Woodrow Avenue.
November 15, 3-5 p.m. • Community Care Event, “for our neighbors who sleep under the stars.” Free food and haircuts, clothing (thrift-ish.org), and gentle trauma relief services (freemdr.org). Violet Crown City Church, 1300 Morrow. Special thanks to Pastor Jay Cooper. (See also January 3, 2026, below.)
November 18, 6-9 p.m. • Preservation Austin’s 65th Annual Preservation Merit Awards Celebration, “honoring everyday Austinites dedicated to preserving our city’s heritage.” Stubb’s Bar-B-Q, 801 Red River, Austin. (See also October 30, above.)
Through November 21 • Good + Plenty Community Drive. “The Good + Plenty mission is to restore dignity and hope by transforming empty spaces into homes with donated furnishings – a table for gathering, a bed for rest, a desk for new beginnings. A home to flourish in.” Facebook group.
November 23, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. • Austin Empty Bowl Project event at Central Texas Food Bank, 6500 Metropolis Drive, Austin. Buy a hand-crafted bowl, have it fllled with delicious soup, enjoy live music, bid in a silent auction. All proceeds benefit Central Texas Food Bank Kids Café and Meals on Wheels Central Texas. The project was founded in 1997 by Rosedale neighbor Kit Adams of ClayWays Pottery Studio (now Austin Pottery, 5442 Burnet Road).
December 7 • Swedish Christmas Market, 1:30-5 p.m., and Lucia Concert, 5-5:30 p.m. (below), Gethsemane Lutheran Church, 200 East Anderson Lane, Austin. (See also Ongoing Projects, below.)
December 14, 11:30 a.m. • “Waiting for the Light” poetry reading and live music. All Saints Episcopal Church, 207 West 27th Street, Austin. Allandale neighbor Anne Province is one of the readers. Link to recording of 2025 event.
December 22-25, 7-10 p.m. • Luminarias line Arroyo Seco in Brentwood and Crestview—an annual tradition since 1994—thanks to neighbors who volunteer to light and extinguish them each evening. Learn more.
January 3, 2026 (and every first Saturday of the month) • Community Care Event “for our neighbors who sleep under the stars.” Inside Violet Crown City Church, 1300 Morrow Street, Austin. Free food and haircuts, clothing (thrift-ish.org), gentle trauma relief services (freemdr.org), professional teeth cleaning, and more. Coordinators include Cate and Sarah. Special thanks to Pastor Jay Cooper.
ONGOING PROJECTS
ATX Free Fridge Project: Brentwood Edition. Community fridge and pantry, free and open 24/7, hosted by Brentwood Social House, 1601 West Koenig Lane, and stocked and maintained by caring neighbors and businesses. It’s one of six around Austin.
Austin Creative Reuse, 2005 Wheless Lane, Austin. “We sell gently used creative materials donated from individuals and businesses at an affordable price. We also host workshops and other community events.” Opportunities to Donate and Volunteer.
Buy Nothing groups in our area. Brentwood (North), Rosedale / Allandale (South) / Brentwood (South), Crestview.
Carol’s Kindness + Food Pantry. “Our non-profit rescues usable food and supplies that would have otherwise been thrown away. We work with local grocers, restaurants, and other food industry sources, as well as other food pantries to convert food waste into a reliable source of healthy food to our local community. We purchase staple food items to supplement our donated foods to broaden our offerings and to have shelf stable items available at our weekly pantry.” Facebook group.
Gethsemane Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. Tuesdays, 9:00 a.m.–noon. 200 East Anderson Lane, Austin. (See also December 7, above.)
Heartening. Accepts clothing and accessories for its free clothing stand and $3 clothing warehouse. Also provides a detailed list of where to donate items Heartening doesn’t accept. Open Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 650 Canion St, Austin.
Korea House offers a free meal to anyone who walks in. In the past two years, the restaurant has served 15,000 free meals by employees who volunteer their time that day. Each first Wednesday of the month, 12-4 p.m. and 5-8 p.m., 2700 West Anderson Lane, Austin. Learn more.
Mobile Blessings From The Heart. A mobile food pantry serving senior citizen communities, students, and needy families, and mobile pop-up pantries serving low-income neighborhoods and unhoused communities. Volunteer. Donate. Facebook group.
MORE GOOD NEWS
On September 29, 2025, investigators in the Austin yogurt shop murder case announced they have made substantial progress in confirming a suspect, bringing hope to the families of the four girls who died in December 1991 and all those who remember them. The I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt shop was in Allandale, west of Northcross Mall. Learn more.
In 2026, Voices of the Violet Crown will donate more research materials to the Austin History Center, for people to learn more about our neighborhood. VVC began as community and history displays at the Violet Crown Festival from 2003 to 2012. It has expanded to include history and genealogy research, three films, feature articles, oral history interviews, presentations, two neighborhood history publications, social media posts, and this website, launched in 2011.
SEE ALSO —