Austin Street Center Gears Up For No Place Like Home at Klyde Warren Park
Austin Street Center is gearing up for its signature fundraiser, the sixth annual No Place Like Home.
This year’s event will be April 29 at Klyde Warren Park. Electronic ticketing and entry will be implemented and masks are required at the event. The event will feature a cocktail reception with live entertainment and a silent auction featuring vacation homes, staycations, home goods, and services, along with unique experiences for your next getaway. Individual tickets may be purchased for $45 apiece, as well as couple tickets at $80 for the pair. There is also a VIP area, where access may be purchased as an upgrade.
“We’re excited to bring people into this environment and then to be able to share the mission of Austin Street,” event co-chair Mackenzie Kleinert said.
Founded in 1983, Austin Street Center is one of the largest low barrier shelters in Dallas that serves men, ages 45 and older, and women, ages 18 and older.
“We always say that we are providing more than just a meal and a bed,” Austin Street CEO Daniel Roby said. “Of course those two things are essential. But beyond that, our individualized model of service attempts to treat the whole individual through a comprehensive program that includes everything from housing coordination and stabilization services, transportation, addiction and beyond.”
“We always say that we are providing more than just a meal and a bed.”
Daniel Roby
Roby added that the event has traditionally been important for the center.
“This event has been a success in years’ past and it’s imperative that more and more community members know about our mission,” Roby said. “The community coming together to rally around a cause that’s important to them is the very foundation on which our organization was founded.”
The event is co-chaired by Kleinert and attorney Cynammon Burns Allen.
“I grew up in south Dallas actually right around the corner from Austin Street, and so homelessness has always kind of been in front of me,” Burns Allen said. “It’s been really awesome to get involved with Austin Street through my mom, who is the director of sisterhood programs as well as the chaplain at Austin Street, so I’ve been able to see firsthand the work Austin Street has done not only in south Dallas, but for the people of the Dallas community…I’m really excited about being able to share this event to raise money for Austin Street as well as awareness.”
Allen added that it’s more important than ever to support Austin Street.
“People are really realizing homelessness could be just one paycheck away. People have lost their jobs, and didn’t have savings, and all these things, and then a pandemic happened,” she said. “There’s already been an increase in homelessness because of COVID, and so I think that everyone can kind of empathize with the issue of homelessness after 2020 as a whole.”
