On the 3rd of July, 25 Mandela Washington Fellows (Young African Leaders) gathered at Casa Marianella to enjoy a wonderful, warm evening full of fellowship and to share a meal with Casa’s residents and staff. This meeting was a part of the MWF student’s community service component while participating in a six week MWF-YAL Institute/Business [...]
In today’s social climate it can sometimes be easy to overlook the importance of immigration and how immigrants have helped mold and shape our great nation into what it is today. At Casa Marianella, we value our immigrant residents from across the globe, and we truly believe in the positive footprint they will leave on [...]
Last week, our beloved ESL Student David Roman and his family generously provided a dinner for the ESL teachers and staff in appreciation for all. The food was fantastic and included delicious tacos of many varieties, fresh homemade salsa and ice cream (just to mention a few)! We would like to give a huge shout-out [...]
Casa Marianella’s Community Center first opened its doors in 2007, ask setting up shop across the street from the original Adult Shelter on Gunter Street. From its humble beginnings, order the Community Center distributed donated clothing to the community and began offering Sonadores Anonimos, a 12-step program in Spanish, and a series of women’s work [...]
Thank you SFC (Sustainable Food Center) for supporting Casa and bringing us fresh produce! About once a week, SFC delivers healthy fruits and veggies for our residents to enjoy from their beautiful gardens. Here is an entry recently posted on SFC’ blog that talks about sharing with Casa: --- SFC’s mission is to cultivate a healthy [...]
Every year in Austin toward the end of January, hundreds of volunteers come together in the early hours of the morning to canvass Travis County and survey individuals and families experiencing homelessness. One of our ESL teachers Amy Knop-Narbutis has been volunteering for this effort for the past six years and is now leading a [...]
Casa has recently purchased a place for two parent families near the Adult Shelter houses. The house finally received it's name: Casa Salaam. The building has been gutted and clean up is in progress. The property has a big yard with lots of space for children to play! Massive volumes of trash and brush have been cleaned away. An electrician [...]
The Still Water Foundation has generously awarded Casa Marianella $40,000 to renovate a house recently purchased to provide shelter for 2 parent families. Still Water exclusively supports charitable, religious, scientific and educational organizations primarily based in Central Texas. The Foundation focuses on the Arts, Environment, Education and Spirituality. Still Water receives applications by invitation only [...]
The following entry was beautifully written by our very own talented and dedicated ESL teacher, Maria Mitidieri: The first week of the early winter teaching term began the second week of November, amidst the height of Election Day events on November 8th. So, energized with fresh, relevant material, teachers embraced the unique opportunity to dive [...]
Karel Dahmen (now 97-years-old) is longtime volunteer at Casa Marianella. He is from the Netherlands and is an absolute hero there. He also had a corporate career in the US. Karel is a philanthropist and is interested in the arts, education, peace, and justice. He still works a Casa food shift every week and has [...]