SAN ANTONIO – The holidays are a season of giving and philanthropic efforts have been impressive by many organizations around the Alamo City.
The Leadership San Antonio Alumni Association has been one of the local groups that has stepped up and helped out.
Ashley Harris with the alumni association spoke in the KSAT studio on Monday to talk about their recent philanthropic activities.
“Leadership San Antonio is a joint program between the San Antonio Chamber and the Hispanic Chamber, and we’ve been around for 47 years. We’re actually the oldest leadership program in Texas. And we tackle issues every single year. So about 50 to 60 class members every single year, they break out into issues and they tackle not only the great things about San Antonio, but the challenges we face and what it takes to fix them,” Harris said.
Recently, LSA alumni came together to challenge each other for a great cause, the San Antonio Food Bank.
“So every single LSA class says they’re the best class ever. So what the alumni association did was we threw down a challenge and we would go raise money for the food bank. The class that raised the most money got the official title of best class ever. So they stepped up in a big way, and in five days we raised $43,177.80 for the for the San Antonio Food Bank locally,” Harris said.
The money went to the food bank because of the local need.
“So obviously this time of year, there’s a lot of need. And we chose the food bank because we knew we’re still dealing with the effects of COVID. We’re still dealing with a lot of those challenges. And so let’s put our money where our mouth is and really help an organization that does so much for the community. And I got to give it to the leadership. The San Antonio Class 40 is the best class ever. They raised $20,000,” Harris said.
So what’s next? A challenge to the community to step up and help out in 2022.
“2021 was the year of the great resignation, everybody stopping and looking at what they’re doing and does it fulfill them. So let’s make 2022 the year of the great introspection. And what are we doing to leave San Antonio a better place than how we found it? Find a nonprofit that you love, find something that motivates you and get involved,” Harris said.