Community Impact in Action

In November, the Spindletop Management Committee hosted the Seventh Annual Unity in Community, a day of volunteering and fellowship! This year, we gathered at Tejas Brewery, where enthusiastic volunteers united to support six of Spindletop’s non-profit partners: Étoile Academy Charter School, Family Houston, Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Houston, Small Steps Nurturing Center, The Sanctuary Foster Care Services, and Urban Harvest. Each organization led a unique service project, offering our volunteers hands-on opportunities to support Houston’s at-risk youth and contribute to the betterment of our community. Throughout the day, participants connected with peers and industry professionals, while learning directly from each non-profit about their remarkable missions and the transformative work they do for local children and families in need. To honor the important efforts of these organizations, Spindletop presented donations to help further each organization’s mission. The day concluded with a lively networking social, celebrating the collective spirit of service that defines Unity in Community.

Take a look at the great work our volunteers did for each participating charity:

Etoile Academy Charter School 

• ABOUT: Étoile Academy Charter School serves students in grades K-8, providing a strong academic and character foundation for lifelong success. With high expectations and data-driven instruction, experienced educators build academic excellence and intentional character development. Students benefit from targeted support, structured routines, and a unique financial literacy curriculum that prepares them for economic independence. Through early exposure to high school and college-level coursework, scholars are empowered to set ambitious goals for their futures. As a public charter school, Étoile Academy offers its comprehensive, quality education tuition-free, ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive.
• ACTIVITY: In support of students’ literacy journey, volunteers gathered to prepare sight word kits, carefully cutting, punching, and assembling materials into easy-to-use sets. Working together in groups, they ensured that each kit was ready for classroom use, making reading practice more accessible and engaging.

Family Houston

• ABOUT: Family Houston is dedicated to empowering children and families across the Houston area by providing compassionate counseling, financial coaching, and community support services. Their caring team works directly with students in schools, helps families navigate financial challenges, and connects individuals to essential resources, creating a more stable and healthy environment for all. By embracing Houston’s diversity and adopting a holistic approach, Family Houston strengthens families and ensures that children and caregivers receive the support they need to overcome obstacles and build brighter futures.
• ACTIVITY: Every December, Family Houston hosts its annual Share the Joy event, bringing families together to celebrate the season. Spindletop volunteers wrapped presents, ensuring each child received a special holiday surprise. These thoughtfully prepared gifts, tailored for children of all ages, will be distributed at the event, bringing warmth and cheer to families throughout the community.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Houston

• ABOUT: Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Houston (RMH) exists to provide a supportive home away from home for families of seriously ill children receiving medical care at Texas Medical Center hospitals. Their Houses offer comfortable, private rooms where families can get a good night’s rest knowing their child is close by. A sense of normalcy is preserved for these families through freshly prepared meals, comfortable beds, and recreational activities for the family to enjoy. By easing the financial and emotional burdens and taking care of important practical needs, RMH allows families to focus on what matters most—caring for their child. At RMH, families find not just accommodation but a caring community dedicated to their well-being and healing.
• ACTIVITY: Spindletop volunteers assisted with the Hospitality Cart program by assembling and organizing items for families and patients. Their dedicated efforts ensured the Hospitality Cart was well-stocked with snacks, toiletries, reading materials, and creative activities for hospitalized children and their caregivers. By helping equip the Hospitality Carts, Spindletop volunteers played a vital role in offering comfort, convenience, and kindness to families during their hospital stay, strengthening the spirit of care and community that defines the RMH mission.

Small Steps Nurturing Center

• ABOUT: Small Steps Nurturing Center’s accredited program provides a high-quality education, social and emotional support, a nurturing Christian environment, transportation, and nutritious meals to economically at-risk children ages 2 through 6 living in poverty in Houston. The communities Small Steps serves – Gulfton and the greater Fifth Ward – lack sufficient, affordable childcare options for families. As a high-quality early childhood education program, Small Steps helps narrow the opportunity gap between children from low- and high-income backgrounds.
• ACTIVITY: Spindletop volunteers assembled healthy snack bags filled with non-perishable treats for children to take home over the holidays. These thoughtfully packed bags ensure kids have access to nutritious snacks while school is out, offering families a little extra support during the festive season. The caring efforts of our volunteers will brighten the holidays and promote well- being for every child served.

The Sanctuary Foster Care Services 

• ABOUT: The Sanctuary Foster Care Services works to stop the cycle of multiple placements for foster children. To prevent retraumatizing a child by moving house to house, The Sanctuary provides wraparound services to the entire foster family unit, including 24/7 crisis intervention, counseling services for both the children and families in the agency, and a fierce commitment to stand behind the children and families in their care. As a model child placement agency, The Sanctuary is committed to offering support at every stage of healing, ensuring that children have the opportunity for lasting change, forever homes and brighter futures.
• ACTIVITY: Spindletop volunteers supported The Sanctuary’s holiday efforts by stuffing festive stockings for foster families. While The Sanctuary already had stockings stuffed for their foster children, our volunteers stuffed stockings for the biological children of each family to create unity and togetherness among all children in a household. Due to this important work, each child in a family unit will receive a thoughtfully filled stocking to bring added joy to the holiday season.

Urban Harvest

• ABOUT: Urban Harvest exists so that everyone has access to high-quality, locally grown food. The organization layers programs – Mobile Markets, Community Gardens, and Education – into high-need neighborhoods holistically, thus strengthening food security while fostering healthier, more connected communities. Since partnering with Spindletop, Urban Harvest has been able to enhance this important work in Gulfton/Sharpstown, one of Houston’s most diverse and vulnerable neighborhoods. By bringing together gardeners, educators, farmers, and neighbors, Urban Harvest works to grow stronger, healthier communities and set a model for food systems transformation nationwide
• ACTIVITY: Spindletop volunteers assembled seed packets for Urban Harvest’s nutrition education programs. At participating schools and community centers, Urban Harvest transforms garden space into a living classroom for monthly education classes offered in English and Spanish, where participants learn how to grow, harvest, and prepare nutritious foods. By creating these seed packets, volunteers played an integral role in equipping students and their families with resources essential for cultivating fresh, healthy food.