I moved to New Braunfels from Austin in 2003. What brought me to town was that my now ex-husband (affectionately referred to as Baby Daddy), was working at Lackland Air Force Base (he was an E7 in the US Army working on a joint mission) and I was working at the Austin Airport for DHL Express. We broke out an old-fashioned big old atlas map book, and we found the geographical center point. It landed between San Marcos and New Braunfels. We didn’t know anything about either, really, so we took a day trip to visit both, and felt pretty “meh” about San Marcos (sorry), and were captivated by New Braunfels.
While I’ve lived here almost 20 years now, I am sad to say during those years when I commuted from NB to Austin and then later San Antonio, New Braunfels was a good place to live, but I mostly rested my head on my pillow. We did hang out a lot at the Tavern in the Gruene in those early days. It wasn’t until I left Corporate America and struck out on my own that I actually came to know the amazing community in which I live.
I didn’t grow up with “community service” being pushed how I feel it here. I don’t know if that is because it was the 1980’s or if it was because we lived in rural Iowa and it was just too hard to get anywhere or maybe because my parents weren’t concerned about us getting scholarships or not – I don’t know. It just wasn’t a part of who I was or what I did. As I fell more and more in love with the New Braunfels community, my heart for my community grew into something I didn’t really even understand was possible – a true love for “home,” and part of having true love in your community is through volunteering, serving and giving.
This has changed me at my very core.
I don’t know where I love giving my time and efforts the most – it is so difficult to choose. But I will highlight a few here. The biggest one that comes to mind is Rotary International. I joined Rotary in 2016 when D. Lee Edwards pushed me to join. Honestly, I joined because I thought it would be good for business. And it is. But now I understand that was the wrong reason to join – Rotary is not about “networking” per se, it is about “service about self.” I have now had 5 years of perfect attendance and am serving as the Service Lane Chair. The easiest way to explain Rotary is that it is “a non-profit organization that raises money to give to other non-profit organizations.” Through Rotary, I have had so many amazing opportunities: a medical mission trip to Mexico, handing out food at the local food banks, hurricane relief efforts in Louisiana, donating blood, doing Habitat for Humanity projects, serving Potato Pancakes at Wurstfest, and who knows what – however we can be of service.
I am also a member of the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce, where I serve as a Blue Coat, which is basically an ambassador of the Chamber. I have served on the business showcase steering committee and completed the Leadership New Braunfels course (2018 – Best Class Ever!). You will find me at many a ribbon cutting, Chamber mixers and other community events. It’s funny, when I first joined in 2012, someone told me the Chamber was just a good ol’ boy club and that I would never be welcomed. You know, I couldn’t find that to be further from the truth. I am a super stoked Chamber member!
I also serve on the Board for both Habitat for Humanity and the local historic theatre, the Brauntex. I joined both boards in 2021, and honestly, I am still trying to learn how to navigate the waters on both. Being a board member is definitely a learning opportunity to see the inner workings of other non-profit organizations. At this point, I feel like a sponge that is absorbing way more information than actually helping, although we do donate 1-2 Habitat for Humanity roofs annually.
Our Habitat Roof Day has become a favorite at Roofer Chicks – we close the office down and everyone goes out to put on the roof, from the bookkeeper to the materials runner. It’s a wonderful way to train our employees and do some good in our community. Our manufacturing partner, GAF, also pays for the materials for these roofs.
Rotary, Chamber, Habitat and the Brauntex are my big serving opportunities for sure, but we also support local sports teams, a Robotics team, ServeSpot, the Pink Warrior, NB Women Go!, 24 Hour Club, Recovery Werks! and the New Braunfels Performing Arts. The Chamber slogan is that New Braunfels is where we live, play and work – I think it’s where we serve, too, when we fall head over heels in love with everything that is NB.
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