Nonprofits Get Cash from F1 Business
A hotel room broker sets aside money for area charities. Photo courtesy flickr.com/nathanmac87Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For many Austinites, Formula One meant road closures, traffic jams and roaring choppers. But for some local nonprofits, it also meant an uptick in donations.
Boys and Girls Club of the Austin Area and Austin Partners in Education each walked away with $26,000 in donations from F1 weekend, thanks to an agreement between Circuit of the Americas and Hotels for Hope, a local hotel broker that raises money for charities.
Mark Kiester, CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Austin, which provides afterschool programs for low-income kids, says the money raised over the weekend will go toward a new club at Dailey Middle School in Del Valle.
“That’s what we call a passive income contribution, and we try to take funds like that and put them to use where we think they can be most effective,” Kiester said. “Since it was tied into [the Circuit of the Americas track] and the Formula One race, we felt like we’d probably use most of those funds to support the Del Valle club.”
Austin Partners in Education says the donations they got over the weekend will help support their efforts with the 3,500 students they serve in the Austin school district.
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