In addition to seeing performances by their favorite artists, Austin City Limits (ACL) attendees can visit ACL Cares, a section of the festival devoted to showcasing non-profits. Among this year’s organizations are the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF), Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) and HeadCount.
The Love Hope Strength Foundation works to find compatible stem cell and marrow donors for people with blood cancer. Rob Rushing, the tour manager for LHSF, stated that, “ACL has become a giant part of our mission,” and that the foundation has “found over 200 potential matches at ACL alone.” The group constantly works to provide life-saving support and attends concerts across the nation in an effort to educate others about ways to cure cancers like leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
With immigration policy being heavily debated across the country, RAICES works throughout Texas to offer support for those immigrating to the U.S. According to one of their representatives, RAICES provides “legal services, social services, advocacy and communication for immigrants.” ACL Cares greatly values taking part in the organization as it helps them raise awareness for pressing issues, and they’ve found that festival-goers “have been interested. They’ve been opting into our campaign to learn more about how they, too, can advocate for immigrants.”
Other non-profits, like HeadCount, are promoting political involvement on the voting front. HeadCount is a non-partisan group that seeks to register voters at events all over the U.S., and their primary mission is to tell people “that they can vote and should vote.” With about 700 new registrants attending the festival, they are excited about this large amount of community engagement and look forward to future elections.
For more information about these organizations and how you can get involved, visit www.aclfestival.com/cares/.
