Giving While Receiving

Giving While Receiving 

The major element that defines a city is the people who inhabit it because the diverse people and cultures tie the city together and make the city unique. In Austin Texas, it’s all about being lay back and helping one another to better the community. The people are from different places all over the world. Many Mexican immigrants come to Austin for a better life. Being in a foreign country and learning a new language is very difficult and close to impossible with no help, but thanks to programs like Any Baby Can (ABC) Austinites show off their true colors improving the community by helping immigrants with math, reading and writing, in both spanish and english, for elementary through high school levels. 

These Austin volunteers come from all over , such as, St. Stephen’s and St. Andrew’s students all the way to UT’s Spanish Society. The volunteers are connected to the community and are determined to improve it.  Not only does ABC have a literacy program, but they have programs such as: parenting education program, nurse family partnership program, healthy and fair start program, and the childhood cancer program. All of ABC’s programs are made to help and better families all over Austin. 

The difference volunteers make in people’s lives connects them more to the community and are an inspiration to others. When I first came to America, I was lucky enough to have teachers and friends that devoted their time teaching me english. They were an inspiration for me to help immigrants at ABC. In The Arrival by Shaun Tan, the foreigner coming to the unknown seems lost and confused just like people who go to ABC. But by the end of the novel, the foreigners daughter sees a young lady with a suitcase which seems lost. The little girl understands what the young  lady is going through and helps her find her way around, just how people in Austin do. Volunteering and improving the community has become a part of Austin’s culture. 

Austin's Farmer's Market

The Sustainable Food Center of Austin, Texas is a non-profit organization that arranges four weekly Farmer’s markets, where vendors pay a small fee to sell their fresh and local products to the Austin Community. While organizing Farmer’s Markets they also provide a wide array of community services ranging from school gardens to their Happy Kitchen program or “La Cocina Allegre.” The Farmer’s Markets runs on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays in accessible areas around Austin for communities searching for fresh produce. These Farmer’s Markets are strong community builders that provide healthy, sustainable foods to the greater Austin.

Families bring their children to play in the designated child area filled with a foam child’s playscape.     

This is the Gardener’s Feast tent, which sells healthy, all-natural, and homemade tamales that come into your hands steaming hot with the smells of creative tamales stuffing floating off. Owner Mariana Peredes sells her tamales at the markets weekly. 

Tucked between condos and high-rises, the one-acre Republic Square Park regularly provides an escape where people can meet up with friends, walk their dogs, and attend regular movie nights and yoga classes.

Executive Director of Sustainable Foods Center, Ronda Rutledge sits at a tent filled with pictures celebrating what the program has done for the Austin Community. 

The Market provides a strong sense of the Austin community by offering a central area for Austin Citizens to relax and buy fresh, local, and healthy foods.

Good For Your Tastebuds Even Better For The Community 

It’s obvious that we all have a number of favorite restaurants, weather they are local or a food chain, they all make our tastebuds go crazy. People may argue that having franchises is bad for the city because they give nothing back to the community, and only take from locals. Besides from providing jobs and attracting people, franchises like Applebee’s International, Inc. changes the local’s attitude towards franchises in their cities. 

Original slogan "eating good in the neighborhood."

The famous Applebee’s chain began in 1980 in Decatur, Georgia, by Bill and T. J. Palmer. The name was changed to Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar in 1986 to reflect the original idea of making people feel like it was their friendly neighborhood bar and grill. For all their success, Applebee’s began to say “thank you” to all its customers by making a difference in the communities in which they operated. Last year alone, Applebee’s employees donated more than 54,000 hours of community hours. The franchisees host fundraisers world wide like Alex's Lemonade Stand, Make-A-Wish Foundation and The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Not only do they help big causes but they help with local causes as well. Such as, at Eisenhower Middle School 5th graders were unable to get a yearbook but Applebee’s reacted quickly and gave the school money for yearbooks. Applebee’s has many programs to help school’s and non-profit organizations raise money for the community.

Giving back to the community and raising money for causes is just the tip of the iceberg for Applebee’s. Not only do they care about their neighborhoods, but about being environmentally friendly. As an example to become environmentally friendly, Applebee’s support center in Kansas is a LEED certified building that in the last 2 years has recycled over 49 tons of waste paper, which is equal to 342,000 gallons of water saved and 831 trees. In 2010, the franchise launched the “green Initiatives”  which required all its stores world wide to update in order to save energy and resources. They changed water faucets that reduce water usage, solar reflective windows, and much more. 

Every time someone eats at Applebee’s not only are they having a good meal but they are doing good for the community. Restaurants like Applebee’s are a great example of what a franchise should do to help out the community. Even though it takes away culture from the city, it gives back more to locals in the community and the environment. Franchises should follow Applebee’s example of community in order to not only become popular but to be wanted by the community. Applebee's makes a better city by giving jobs, helping the environment and the community. 

Citgo Sign: Landmark or Curse

Citgo Sign: Landmark or Curse

The Citgo Petroleum Corporation began in 1910 by Henry L. Doherty originally known as the Cities Services Company. A big sign was built a couple blocks away from Fenway Park at Kenmore Square in Boston Massachusetts. City services changed its name to CITGO. Thus, changing the sign to what today is known as the Citgo Sign. For the company the Citgo sign was just for advertisement but for Bostonians it became much more.

"See it go"

Foley, the famous electrician who began working on the sign in 1965 at the age of 20, has been the keeper of the sign ever since. He upgraded the sign in 2004 from neon to LEDs to save energy and keep the sign up to date. Foley, in an interview with the New York Times, said, ““I was only a kid when I started servicing it, and I’m still servicing it. It’s part of me.” Not only has it become a part of Foley, but it has become a part of the city’s culture. The sign has become important to the city and is now in tour guide brochures and post cards as a representation of the city. 

The sign originally became famous by its exposure through the Red Sox games. A tradition at Red Sox games is to chant “C-IT-GO” whenever a player hits a home run over the left field. The sign has become a symbol of good feeling for Red Sox fans all over the world. In 1980 the mayor of Boston, Edward J. King, wanted to turn off and tear down the sign as a symbol of energy conservation. By that time the sign had gain affection from all over the nation and the world. After many protest and the acknowledgement of its importance to the city, the mayor decided to pause the removal of the sign and turned it back on in 1983. No other sign has had such an impact or importance on a city since the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign which is well known all over the world and was declared a national landmark. Most Bostonians and Red Sox fans everywhere believe the sign should be a landmark while others have cynical views about the sign and wish to remove it. 

Signs of Time: Citgo and Hugo by Andres Orozco

Citgo was sold to the Venezuelan government in 1990 and to this day the connection between Hugo Chavez, the dictator of Venezuela, and the sign, angers many Americans. The sign for these Americans resembles a foreign dictatorship that should be tore down not be promoting Chavez. They see it as a constant reminder of a horrible dictator. This global political problem brings a lot of controversy to the city of Boston, but luckily for locals their only concern is the significance the sign symbolizes to the city of Boston and Red Sox fans. The sign has become part of the Boston culture and holds a big significance to Red Sox fans world wide.