Interfaith Action Of Central Texas Announces 2021 Hope Awards For April 27

Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT), an Austin nonprofit which supports the community through interfaith dialogue, service and celebration, announces the 2021 HOPE Awards, taking place Tuesday, April 27 at 6 p.m. via a Zoom livestream.

Each year, iACT honors some of central Texas' "better angels" at the widely beloved annual event, while also raising vital funds to support their mission. As such, the theme for the 2021 HOPE Awards is "Calling on our Better Angels." This year's honorees include Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, president of Huston-Tillotson University, philanthropists Nahid and Ali Khataw, and the Buddhist community, Fo Guang Shan Xiang Yun Temple. For more information on iACT, or to register for or sponsor the event, go to interfaithtexas.org.

"We honor and celebrate our honorees because they embody iACT's mission and spirit," said iACT's executive director Simone Talma Flowers. "Their dedication to giving back, and their tireless commitment to call upon the better angels in the Austin Community."

The event will also feature an in-depth conversation with the celebrated author and professor Dr. Eddie Glaude, whose recent book, "Begin Again," a searing indictment of racial injustice in America, inspired by the life and work of James Baldwin, is a New York Times' best-seller. Through his work as a commentator on MSNBC and writer, Glaude continually calls on our better angels; as Baldwin himself put it, "Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again."

The 2021 HOPE Awards will feature testimonials, honoree awards, music and Fund-a-Need. iACT is now inviting sponsorships with levels that range from $500 to $25,000. The Hope Awards is iACT's major fundraiser for their community service programs. These programs include Hands on Housing, which repairs the homes of low-income seniors and people with disabilities; the iACT for Refugees program, which provides Basic English instruction and other supportive services to newly-arrived refugees from around the world; the Red Bench dialogue program, which encourages important and meaningful conversations among individuals from diverse backgrounds; and the Passport Program, which gives participants the opportunity to travel to the houses of worship and various community celebrations of many different faith traditions.

iACT's work centers around inclusion, peace, and respect among all faith communities. Their programs strive to be an example of what it looks like to live in harmony and inclusion with one another.

"iACT brings people together to celebrate the goodness we share with the world," says Flowers. "We need to come together."

Leo Ramirez, iACT board president, put it this way: "This year's focus on 'calling on our better angels' is timely - learning how to be better neighbors in the spirit of generosity is the best antidote to the spirit of fear. The HOPE Awards teach that whatever we have been given is supposed to be given away again, not kept."
For more information on iACT, or to register for or sponsor the event, please see interfaithtexas.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.