Austin Apartment Association’s 36th Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive Provides 1,300 Families a Holiday M

(Austin, TX –November 15, 2022) The Austin Apartment Association (AAA) celebrates a different sort of delivery day today, as part of its 36th annual Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive. The volunteer-driven effort raised more than $50,000 in 2022 to help provide holiday meals for Austin area families.

The food drive began in 1986 when the AAA Community Service committee raised $600 to feed hungry Austinites. Prior to the pandemic, more than a 100 AAA member volunteers collected funds, purchased food, and hand-delivered collected food packs to its partner organizations.

As in 2021, funds raised this year supported purchasing H-E-B Gift Cards to help families with their Thanksgiving food needs.

“The need for food is greater than ever, and families have the benefit of convenience and getting exactly what they need for the holiday with the gift card,” said Emily Blair, Executive Vice President at AAA. “Every year, the apartment industry professionals in Austin come together to support our community whether it is to collect food, deliver donated welcome kits for our neighbors exiting homelessness, or host a blood drive, to name a few. We knew our support wouldn’t waiver -the multifamily industry again, enthusiastically supports this effort year after year.”

Blair said 100 percent of collected donations are being distributed today, on what is typically the “delivery day” for the Annual Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive, through the Association’s partner organizations to feed families and individuals in the greater Austin area.  Partner organizations include:

• The Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA)
• The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services Rainbow Room
• SAFE Austin
• Foundation Communities

“For more than three decades, AAA has been a valuable partner of HACA. Although this year may look different, 100% of their generous donation is being distributed today to 750 low-income families at 18 of our public housing and Section 8 properties through gift cards. This ensures that HACA residents can prepare a wonderful family holiday dinner. This is the once-a-year meal that our residents enjoy and count on. We are pleased that AAA continued to step up and found a way to provide the needed resources to our communities. We congratulate AAA for their consistency in helping build and support our communities by innovative ways such as this food drive.” said Leilani Lim-Villegas, Senior Director of Community Development for the Housing Authority of the City of Austin.

Since the Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive inception 36 years ago, AAA has raised more than $1,000,000 in donations. Austin residents have received more than 27,000 Thanksgiving Food Packs from the initiative. Additional details and donation information can be found at http://www.austinfooddrive.com

About the Austin Apartment Association

The Austin Apartment Association was founded in 1964 and is composed of more than 1,000 diverse businesses that own, manage and service more than 290,000 rental homes in the Greater Austin Area. Our mission is to advance the expertise and collective community impact of the rental housing industry. To learn more about the Austin Apartment Association, please visit our website at www.austinaptassoc.com.