Dear Community Members and Builders,

While the April showers were light, we did produce some amazing flowers for May and beyond. Thank you to our generous donors and volunteers for living our mission to positively impact communities, build and empower people, and inspire innovation. With your support, we continue to make a tremendous impact.

The month’s big accomplishment was staff organizing TRF Camp Build supplies to ship to all locations! While the idea seemed simple, it became a bit of an operational puzzle that we solved thanks to the dedication of staff and local Austin-area volunteers (especially Mario Flores and Duwayne Tuscher). This idea to centralize prep emerged from our 2024 lessons learned to ease the burden on our host volunteer teams, which we hope ensures a successful camp experience for all who participate in our camps from May through July. We learned a lot along the way and now have additional equipment and storage infrastructure to ensure our ongoing success. Thank you to the Board, staff, and volunteers for encouraging us to strive to innovate and excel. Thank you to Josette Sablan for helping us navigate the freight process. Having experts in the volunteer pool has proven crucial for our Foundation’s success. Thank you to everyone who supported this tremendous effort.

I am proud to report that we raised $107,500 and received in-kind materials and tools from our fifty-six donors for this year’s TRF Camp Build! This was a 34% surplus over our budgetary goal and 46% year-over-year growth. This proved vital for the operations side of camp planning and tracking. Thank you to all our donors (identified below) for your generosity and partnership, and for answering my call(s). We could not build and empower the youth through our transformative weeklong experience without your generosity and partnership.

We also distributed our 2025 Coloring Books – the story of Rosie the Gopher and her friends building many items from TRF Camp Build. Thank you to volunteers Ladislao Juarez and Salvador Llort for volunteering their translation skills. If you know of a local nonprofit collaborating with elementary school-aged children who would benefit from our English or Spanish coloring books, please contact your local Communications Rep for copies. We love sharing our love of construction and building with the next generation of builders.

If you missed the Roadshows, you could listen to the makeup session recording in this month’s newsletter. Thank you to our committee members for sharing our 2024 accomplishments and 2025 plans. Now the Communications Committee is planning and hosting Service Days. If you have ideas on how the local volunteers can positively impact your local community, please share them with your local communications representative. If you are unsure of the identity of your rep, please reach out to Chair Stacy Quilla or TRF Staff. I am excited to see how many books we collected in this month’s Texas Book Drive competition benefiting BookSpring.

Don’t forget to share our grants page with any amazing nonprofits in your local community. Encourage them to apply for a 2025 Annual Grant before the July 1st deadline! The Rosendin Foundation may be a source of support as they navigate federal grant revocations, escalating food pricing, and supply chain constraints. Help us show our community that We Care!

Please save the date for our 2025 Golf Tournament and Auction on Wednesday, November 19th at Kierland Golf Course in Scottsdale, AZ. We will be sharing sponsorship information next month. Thank you to our title sponsors, Border States and Sunbelt Rentals, for renewing your support.

If you know of a company or organization that wants to partner with us or become an Annual Sponsor, please encourage them to contact me.

I encourage you to show kindness to those around you. We never know what burdens are on another’s plate, and when a simple act of kindness can make a lasting impact and shine some sunshine on them to thrive.

In Community,

Jolsna Thomas, President