From Texas-When it opened its doors in 1987 at a 6,000-square-foot space on West Mary Street, El Buen Samaritano relied on church bake sales to help pay the bills and the sweat equity of volunteers to get things done. Sometimes literally. One summer, the air conditioner blew out, making for furnacelike working conditions.
The nonprofit, a mission of the Episcopal Church, serves mostly Latino families and began modestly at a time when new immigrants from Mexico, South America and Central America were stirring the local demographic landscape. It provided free lunches and ran a small clothing closet for women and children.
This year, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, El Buen, as it is often called, still relies on volunteers — about 600 of them — along with 67 employees. But as the nonprofit expanded its services to respond to growth in the population it serves, it did so with head-turning growth of its own.
With a roughly $5 million annual budget funded mostly by Episcopalian support, corporations and private foundations, the nonprofit now operates out of three buildings on 11 acres near William Cannon Drive and Manchaca Road in South Austin. El Buen said in 2011 it exceeded its goal to serve more than 12,000 people a year and projected it would double that figure in the next five years.
More here-
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/episcopal-nonprofit-el-buen-celebrates-25-years-of-2342243.html
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