Buddha Tara

Community Outreach

Chittamani Buddhist Center exists to benefit the residents of Austin and surrounding areas and as such, is deeply involved in the community. Below is a list of the outreach programs to which our volunteers give their love and attention.

Austin State Hospital

Austin State Hospital (ASH) provides care through three services - Adult Psychiatric Services, Specialty Adult Services, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services. The adult services program consists of five acute adult admission units, two intermediate care units, and one forensic unit. Specialty adult programs include the older adult unit, longer-term cognitive behavioral and multiple disabilities unit, and the deaf services and longer-term behaviorally stabilized unit. Child and adolescent programs offer services to children to the age of 12, an adolescent girls unit, and an adolescent boys unit.

Chittamani Buddhist Center volunteers provide ASH residents with games, cards, paper, colored pencils, personal toiletry items, hats, coats, etc.

You can bring your donations of any of the items listed above to the Center from 1 September to mid-December.

Coats For Kids

Coats for Kids is an annual community project that collects and distributes warm winter coats to eligible children and teenagers in Central Texas. Approximately 30,000 coats are distributed yearly to young people in Central Texas.

Chittamani Buddhist Center partners with many other organizations in our community to ensure that the children of Central Texas stay warm.

We collect coats, hats, gloves, etc. at the Center from 1 September to 1 November.

Keep Austin Beautiful

The Adopt-a-Street program gives groups the opportunity to help their local community environment by collecting litter and beautifying streets in their neighborhood. This citywide program takes the Don't Mess with Texas Adopt-A-Highway program to a local level.

In 2005 Chittamani Buddhist Center adopted a half mile of Lamar Avenue, near the Center. The Chittamani "street cleaners" gather four times a year (once per quarter) and work together to Keep Austin Beautiful, and also manage to have a lot fun in the process!

Austin Salvation Army

Many homeless men, women, and children come to The Salvation Army in need of emergency assistance. Chittamani Buddhist Center's dedicated volunteers provide fifty (50) toiletry kits, twenty-five (25) men and twenty-five (25) women.

The items listed below are collected throughout the year; the kits are assembled in September and then delivered to the Salvation Army. These essential items make a profound difference in the lives of Austin's homeless individuals and families. Donations can be dropped at the Center during normal Center hours.

* Men and/or women's underwear * Toothbrush * Razors * White undershirts * Toothpaste * Tissues * Bras * Small hairbrush * Deodorant * Socks * Small shampoo * Nail clippers * Small soap

In addition to the toiletry kits for men and women, we also collect and assemble twenty-five shoeboxes with items such as the ones listed below to help make the children at the Salvation Army feel special.

* Wash cloths * 2 new children' books * Small toys * Small soaps * Literacy game/activity books * Coloring books * Children's toothbrushes * Journals * Box of colored pencils/crayons * Toothpaste * Yo-yos * Children's jewelry * Card games * Stickers * Stationery * Balls * Action figures * Hair accessories * Bubbles * Cars * Stuffed animals * Travel games * Beanie Babies * Board games * Hats

If you are interested in volunteering for any outreach program please contact the Center or send an e-mail to cbcspecialevents@yahoo.com We'd love to hear from you!