Posts by Ashley Thornton
Better Living for Texans: Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
(As I’m sure most of you probably know, one of our Prosper Waco community goals is “McLennan County residents will live healthier lifestyles and access the best available care.” With that in mind Act Locally Waco is teaming up with Better Living for Texans to bring you a monthly blog post full of tips for…
Read MoreMCC Board of Trustees shares guiding values
By Phillip Ericksen In May, the McLennan Community College Board of Trustees, a seven-member board of elected officials that represents different parts of the county and provides oversight of the College, approved a new set of values meant to guide all decisions related to student success. Here are the new values: People matter – We…
Read MoreVoices For Our Community’s Children: Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
By Anna Futral (This post is part of a series of posts about CASA – Court Appointed Special Advocates. – ABT) I would imagine that many of you reading this grew up in a pretty good home. I grew up on 30 acres outside Fredericksburg TX with four (mostly) fabulous siblings and two parents who…
Read MoreWine Tasting Event to Benefit Talitha Koum
Press release – Please join Lake Brazos Rotary Club for a weekend of fine wine and dining in downtown Waco as we raise money for Talitha Koum Institute. Everyone is welcome to attend one or both nights. Barnett’s Public House has carefully selected all of the wines for this charity event. The World of Wine fund-raiser begins on Friday,…
Read MoreH-E-B’s Help End Hunger Campaign to Benefit Caritas of Waco
Press release – H-E-B and Caritas of Waco are partnering together to help feed the hungry in our community. In the Waco community, approximately 30% of the population live below the poverty line. Many of these individuals do not know where they will get their next meal, and summer can be an especially challenging time…
Read More“Deaf”initions of Reasonable Accommodations and Effective Communication
by Teresa Porter The marketing department is working overtime to paint Waco as a wonderful place to visit and spend money, but “word-of-hand” carries more weight than a slick advertising campaign. Every day, the Deaf citizens of Waco are openly excluded from equal access to the fun activities. If Waco is truly the “heart” of…
Read MoreSustainable Waco: June 1 is Household Hazardous Waste Day!
By Anna Dunbar Happy end of the school year, everyone! And you know what the end of school means to me – it’s time for Household Hazardous Waste Day! That is a special day when residents can bring things that should not be put in regular household garbage or poured down drains to be properly…
Read MoreGet to know the Family Health Center: Mental health in Waco’s low-income communities
By Rae Jefferson May is National Mental Health Month, which means there’s no better time to talk about the way mental health is approached by our community. In 2018, Family Health Center (FHC) provided more than $2.2 million in behavioral health services to patients in McLennan and Bell counties. It’s important to note that majority…
Read MoreFreedom School: Pulling together to prevent summer learning loss
By Lakia Scott The Baylor Freedom Schools program is a partnership between Baylor’s School of Education, Waco ISD and Transformation Waco, Prosper Waco, and the City of Waco. Freedom Schools is a seven-week summer literacy enrichment program founded by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). Social action, character building, and STEAM activities are also built into…
Read MoreThanks for a terrific Lemonade Day, Waco!
By Nathan Embry and Natalie Ward. A common message I hear often is “Waco is different because this community takes care of each other.” Many of us have seen this play out time after time, and I’m excited to offer another piece of evidence that this is true: Lemonade Day 2019 was a huge success.…
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