The 12th annual Big Give San Antonio, a 24-hour annual online fundraising event supporting 400 nonprofits in South Central Texas, runs from 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, through 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18.
Over the past decade, the 24-hour online event has raised in excess of $50 million for the local nonprofit community.
Here’s a list of nonprofits and charities in Canyon Lake, New Braunfels, Bulverde and Spring Branch areas:
Animal Rescue Connections, Bulverde – Foster-based organization with volunteers who are passionate about adoption. Trap-neuter-return (TNR) and community assistance. Each year, ARC supports the relocation of dozens of cats through its barn cat relocation program. These independent outdoor cats are often displaced when their home is no longer safe and cannot be returned to their original trapping location. Often wary of human interaction, these cats need little care in their desired new home — just food, water and shelter. Unfortunately, there’s not a waitlist for these cats, and they’re often in ARC’s care for several weeks or months. That’s why ARC created ARC Barn Boot Camp Shelter — a safe, temporary home where these resilient cats can wait for their new outdoor sanctuary.
The Arc of the Hill Country, New Braunfels – Created by family members, caregivers, and volunteers seeking to enhance the quality of life for their loved ones while establishing a support center. Provides fun, education, socialization and sports activities in a safe, loving manner.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Comal and Guadalupe Counties – Provide a strong, consistent, caring adult role model for youth facing adversity.
Bulverde Area Humane Society – Nonprofit, volunteer no-kill shelter providing a caring and secure environment for homeless and surrendered dogs and cats. Provides education and spay/neuter assistance. $25 provides vaccine funding for one animal, $50 funds community outreach programs and education, $75 pays to test and treat for Chagas disease, $75 contributes to spays and neuters, $75 treats Feline Infectious Peritonitis, and $100 contributes to major surgeries.
Bulverde Spring Branch Activity Center – Facilitates active aging and enhances the quality of life for older adults. Addresses the challenges of malnutrition, social isolation and physical inactivity through nutritional/outreach/transportation programs, (Meals on Wheels), health-and-wellness programs, and social activities.
Canyon Lake Art Guild Texas – is participating in Big Give for the first time. $10 supports fellowship and monthly meeting space at Tye Preston Memorial Library (TPML), $25 pays for displays at TPML, Brookshire Brothers, Wildflour North and Prosperity Bank, $75 helps with monthly meeting demonstrations, $100 supports show and sales events, $250 is used for an annual scholarship to a local student, and $500 pays for the group’s annual Lasting Impressions Show.
CASA of Central Texas – provides court-appointed special advocates to children in foster care. $25 provides hope to an abused and neglected child, $40 helps celebrate 40 years of serving the community, $50 makes an impact for two abused and neglected children for one week, $100 provides a voice for abused and neglected children for one month, and $1,000 provides hope to an abused and neglected child for one year.
Comal Conservation – Grassroots nonprofit focused on bringing Comal County together to safeguard water, land and wildlife as the area grapples with unprecedented growth. All Big Give donations help in the creation of local conservation easements by assisting with the cost of legal fees, surveys, and appraisals. A conservation easement is a binding agreement that limits future development. This keeps the land open and natural while allowing continued access for working lands, or wildlife habitat, for generations to come. Donations will help to protect the rivers, the open spaces, and the wildlife that make the Texas Hill Country so special.
Comal County Senior Citizens Foundation, New Braunfels – Serves the senior, veteran and disabled adult population of Comal, Guadalupe, Karnes and Wilson counties. Promotes healthy aging and enhances overall quality of life and well-being through a comprehensive range of supportive services. $25 buys five meals for a senior, $50 pays for a fitness membership, $100 buys one annual couple membership, $250 provides monthly food purchases for AniMeals and More Pet Program, $500-$1,000 donations support programming and outreach.
Communities in Schools South Central Texas (Comal, Guadalupe, Gonzales and Caldwell Counties), New Braunfels – Surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. $10 covers school supplies, $25 sponsors a child for a mentor friendship, $50 provides a child with emergency needs like food and clothing, and $100 sponsors a child for mental health counseling.
Connections Individual and Family Services – A safe space for at-risk girls in Comal County. $25 provides snacks for growing minds, $50 buys supplies for small group activities, $150 covers the cost of one counseling session and $500 provides a fun outing for 20 youths in foster care.
Crisis Center of Comal County, New Braunfels – Provides crisis and prevention services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. $55 provides a safe refuge for one night at the emergency shelter, $175 helps break the cycle of violence through counseling and other support services, $375 gives hope to a survivor of sexual assault through SANE exams and resources, and $550 helps rebuild a life by providing transitional housing.
CRRC of Canyon Lake, Canyon Lake – Serving the residents of Canyon Lake by providing vital services and life-enriching opportunities that increase the community’s wellness by building connections, offering resources and providing support. $25
Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels – Finding a way forward for families that have fallen on hard times. Works with local church congregations to help families overcome crisis. $25 helps families with children in temporary shelters, $50 covers the cost of gas so parents can get to and from work and school, $100 provides diapers for an entire month, $250 assists with meals and necessities for the entire family, $500 helps cover childcare, $1,000 keeps a family from being evicted, $2,500 moves a family into permanent housing and covers deposits, $5,000 helps five families in homelessness, and $10,000 saves 10 families from homelessness.
Friends of the Bulverde Area Rural Library District, Bulverde – Help fund the library’s first 2025 Library Festival. The Mammen Family Public Library is the only library serving a 200-square-mile area in the western portion of Comal County. Donations will help Mammen Family Public Library fund the purchase of VOX books for children. These books help kids improve their reading and language skills — but due to the electronic component, they’re expensive.
Friends of Tye Preston Memorial Library (TPML) – Library Director Jenny Rodriguez said this year’s Big Give theme is “Experience Lifelong Learning.” The library aims to expand its existing kit collections and develop pilot collections for all ages while also circulating Makerspace materials as kits. Kits and hands-on activities are great for people who learn best by doing and are fun for families to share together. On the wish list is funding for pre-kits, citizen science kits, Makerspace to Go kits, and Stay Sharp theme-based activity kits for older adults.
Headwaters at the Comal, New Braunfels – Mission is to strengthen the relationship between the community and nature by showcasing the significance of the Comal Springs. $25 innspires five children to explore nature on a Water Watchers Field Trip, $50 supports one volunteer scientist in monitoring the Comal River, $100 adds 10 native plants to increase biodiversity for pollinators, $250 supports the restoration of ripariran habitats along Spring Run and Bleiders Creek, $500 supports new archeology programming to share the rich history of the state, and $2,500 equips a screened ‘education pod’ for youth field trips.
Humane Society of the New Braunfels Area, New Braunfels – Open intake, nonprofit animal shelter dedicated to saving as many lives as possible. Shelter cares for approximately 4,500 animals per year. Serving the residents and pets of New Braunfels, Comal County and surrounding areas since 1975.
A Kitty’s PURRsuit of Happiness, Spring Branch – Veteran-founded and operated non-kill rescue dedicated to improving the lives of abused, abandoned, ill and injured cats. Ninety-nine percent of all rescues come directly from the streets.
League of Women Voters of the Comal Area, New Braunfels – Empowering voters, defending democracy. Works to encourage citizen participation in the democratic process. Big Give donations are used to provide voter education information and voter guides throughout the county. Donations help the League assist high schools with their student-voter registration guides and conduct candidate forum.
NB Housing Partners – First Footing Program, New Braunfels – Offers people in need a safe place to stay and services that provide a hand up through housing through safe shelter, employment assistance, income recovery and supportive guidance. $25 provides one month of basic care items for someone seeking a life change, $50 for medical or behavioral healthcare or prescriptions, $100 pays for weekly transportation towards steps that end homelessness, $250 covers breakfast for one month, $1,000 pays for one month of shelter utilities,and $10,000 helps finance “a place to call home” by building housing units.
New Braunfels Christian Ministries – Invest in people at Kids Club and Volunteers in Medicine. Kids Club fosters a fun and engaging environment where children thrive through positive relationships with caring adults. Volunteers in Medicine staff provide quality medical and dental care at no cot to local uninsured patients. In 2024, volunteers will serve 700 patients at 6,500 appointments. $300 underwrites three clinic appointments, $650 funds 10 counseling sessions, $1,200 sponsors one student scholarship for one year, and $2,000 underwrites whole-person care for one patient for one year.
New Braunfels Youth Collaborative – Provides out-of-school programs for middle school and high school students, long identified as a service gap in the New Braunfels community. The facility on W. Mill Street is a haven for young adults to socialize, learn, connect, and have fun.
RCBC Helping Hands Food Pantry, Spring Branch – Works to reduce food insecurity by assisting between 100 to 125 families each month with food. Medical checkups and assistance also provided.
RecoveryWerks! – Helps teens, young and adults recover through the power of healthy connections. $25 provides supplies to teach youth/families about addiction and learn healthy ways to support recover, $75 helps clients navigate their recovery journey — accountability keeps youth on track, $200 offers a safe space for meeting clients where they’re at, and $300 provides one month of all services for one teen.
River City Advocacy & Counseling Center -Is a New Braunfels-based nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable mental health services to individuals and families in Comal County and the surrounding area. $100 provides a counseling session to a veteran, senior or child; $150 provides peer support for a month for one person, $500 provides supplies and materials for veteran support programs; $1,000 provides a veteran and/or their immediate family with eight free sessions; $2,500 provides resources to help with all counseling and peer programs, and $5,000 provides financial resources to provide all services.
Rock Haus Foundation, New Braunfels – Supports individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in Comal County with resources and opportunities to achieve a life of fulfillment. Promotes a fully inclusive community while offering opportunities for education, employment, socialization and self-advocacy.
Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation, Kendalia – Rescues orphaned, injured and displaced wildlife and returns the majority to the wild. The center also provides permanent care in large natural enclosures to farmed and unreleasable wildlife. $28 provides care and food for an injured or orphaned cottontail for two weeks, $54 purchases formula for two fawns for one week, $115 provides fresh produce for the two black bears at the facility for one week, $250 helps fund veterinary care for wildlife with acute injuries or illness, $516 provides four weeks of medication to improve mobility/joint pain in aging pigs, $1,070 can provide new enrichment items for one large sanctuary enclosure.