UPDATED: Which charity do you want Twestival Houston 2009 to benefit?

Thank you so much for adding Neighborhood Centers Inc.! It's the largest human services org that ONLY serves Greater Houston, around for 103 years!

Fresh Arts is honored to be included with a list of such great Houston non-profits! And I look forward, of course, to this year's Twestival!

My assistant was diagnosed with Leukemia last year, something that I would have never imagined. He is in his mid twenties, it's nice to see the Leukemia Society on the list. <3

Glad to see so many great local charities on this list! Hope to see lots of community involvement for Twestival Local. Looking forward to working working with @gracerodriguez and others again too. :-)

Hugo: I agree that LLS is a good cause, but there is already a fundraiser for them this week and I don't think we need to have benefits for the same charity over and over.

Shawn- You are correct, looks like the medical-related non profits are winning.

Voting for Extra Life, great cause for kids with cancer, backed by gaming communitys, gamers do help people :)

Neighborhood Centers Inc. is a great organization, this organization changed my life over 10 years ago. My children still talk about the change that NCI has made in our lives.

AIDS Foundation Houston continues to do so much for the community.

NCI does amazing work throughout our community!

We would enthusiastically welcome the attention of the Twestival Houston. Recipe for Success Foundation combats childhood obesity by introducing children to their food from seed to plate. After just three years in the field we are delivering astounding results that have attracted national attention for our programs that connect elementary aged children to the entire food chain with classes in gardens and the kitchen, incorporate the volunteerism of Houston's finest chefs, and work with more than 3,000 children a month. We are on the brink of a national rollout to meet the high demand. We make healthy eating fun!

Neighborhood Centers is one of the finest organizations I have had the honor to work with. Great people, great programs!

Hello, there! Wanted to add 2 new Houston-based non-profits that my company, Gentlemen's Tonic, has recently partnered with. The first is Churchill's Britain Foundation (www.churchillsbritainfoundation.org) It might seem like an odd choice, but the founder, Mr. Jonathan Sandys, is moving to Houston in mid-August as the city has been so receptive and supportive of his cause he is choosing to base the foundation here in our hometown. The core mission is assistance for children with learning disabilities, stemming from the fact that Sir Winston Churchill himself was dyslexic and had a speech impediment. Using the principles of determination and persitence that Churchill used to get Britain through the darkest days of WWII, Mr. Sandys reaches out to children on all levels and seeks to help them overcome their obstacles in an encouraging, empowering and positive manner.

The second is The Encourager Project (www.encouragehouston.org) This amazing concept can be summed up in three words: pay it forward. Stemming from a social experiment cinducted by the organization's founder, Brian J. Figat, during the aftermath of Hurrican Ike, he and a group of about 20 people diligently worked and raised thousands of dollars before Christmas 2008. Their mission was simple: Use the money for the betterment of humankind by personally demonstrating random acts of kindness to those they encountered on a daily basis. They videoed each encounter and the results are astounding. The very first thing they did was walk into a pharmacy and offer to pay for an elderly woman's prescriptions. Only $70 or so. The next day they received a letter from the woman's daughter saying she had just gotten out of the hospital for cancer treatment that day, her husband of many years had just passed away that week, and her home had been lost during the hurricane. $70 bought this woman, according to her daughter, the greatest act of human kindness she had ever received. Another chronicle tells of foundation members walking into a Starbucks and paying for $100 worth of coffee. It may be the first time someone has been caught on tape crying over a $4 latte being given to her. Since then this movement has grown into a foundation established with the hope of changing our mindset as human beings, as Houstonians, by facilitating acts like this on a much larger scale.

NCI is the organization sent from heaven!! they care so much about our communities. It was an honor working for them.

NCI serves communities and empowers citizens to own the work being done in their respective communities so they can respond by carrying on the work.

Extra LIfe is raising money For a cure for cancer. By playing games! vote for Extra Life!

Thank you so much for including the Houston Area Women's Center... We are actively looking for ways to create awareness and reach out to the community. Please visit us online at www.hawc.org or our Facebook Cause page at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/posts/262837?m=1ecd8463

Houston Area Women's Center has provided compassionate, quality services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence for over 31 years!

I think extremely highly of Houston Area Women's Center, and therefore it is my great pleasure to write a letter to tell you why I chose Houston Women's Center. I have been at the shelter for about 60 days and have been Empowered to improve my family and myself. I have learned so much here on how to find the best job leads and not only that, but how to dress to get and keep the jobs. They do all this just because they truly care about us. Can you believe a shelter gave me my first pair of prada shoes! How special was that? And if things could not get better they have celebrity stylist to come and do our hair. They make you feel special and every women wants to feel that way. They never asked what did I do wrong; their main concern was how not to let that happen to me and my boys again. They have given me so much knowledge on how to open and operate my own business and how to love myself first. They even go the extra mile to bring Business Women in to come and talk to us on how to get a small business loan and even how to write a successful grant. I have so many business cards from successful women from all parts of the U.S that have donated their time just to help me make myself better. This place has changed my life in a very big way. Not only me but also it has shown my boys that there are good people out there who are willing to lend a helping hand. I would recommend this place to anyone who would want to get her self out of a bad situation. I can say this because they help me. This has been the best decision I have ever made.
I want to say thank you for givin me and my family a hand up not a hand out.

Yo trabajé como tutora - asistente en un programa de educación continua dando clases de computación, en ese programa mediante prácticas se hacía uso de material de distintas agencias... una de ellas el Centro de Mujeres del Area de Houston y era increíble ver cuando se tocaba el tema de la violencia doméstica, como de grupos de 20 personas en promedio, el 80% la había vivido de cerca. Es muy importante reconocer la labor que este centro hace y apoyarlo.

I am glade to see we have so many good &caring organizations here in houston.I have been involved with H.A.W.C. for 2 years now and I am so impressed with their goals and their desire to help women and children put their lives back together and get back into life and be successful at anything they deceide to do. Thanks for a great experience. Keep up the good work.

I was helped by HAWC in the summer of 2002 - will never forget their kindness. Hope they win.

Neighborhood Centers is a great organization reaching people where they live. Keep up the great work.

I'm glade to see organization like HAWC that really help.

Great Idea