Recent News
The Heart of Texas
August 21, 2009
Austin Browncoats were featured in a recent blog by one of our supported charities, The Kids Need to Read Foundation. The blog's title was "Austin Browncoats: The Heart of Texas", and it is about how Texans always manage to do things BIG, Austin Browncoats being no exception. We would like to thank KNTR for the heartfelt blog and encourage you all to check out that blog (and many others) at the KNTR community website.
Link to blog "Austin Browncoats: The Heart of Texas"
2nd Annual Jayne Hat Knit-a-Thon at Dragon*Con
August 9, 2009
The Austin Browncoat's 2nd Annual Jayne Hat Knit-a-Thon will be held during Dragon*Con this year from September 4th-7th. Our own Ma Cobb, Claudia, knit an impressive 12 Jayne hats during last year's Knit-a-Thon, raising $1000 in pledges benefiting The Kids Need to Read Foundation (KNTR).
She's at it again at Dragon*Con 2009! Claudia will be knitting during all hoursof the con this year, and pledges can be made either at the Austin Browncoats booth or via the Knit-a-Thon website: www.austinbrowncoats.com/Jaynehats
In addition to pledging at the site, you can keep up to date with Claudia's progress with daily photos and progress logs. Join us in cheering Claudia on and see just "How many Jayne hats can be knit at Dragon*Con?" All proceeds will benefit KNTR.
Equality Now welcomes news of Shadi Sadr's release from prison
August 8, 2009
Iran: Equality Now welcomes the news of Shadi Sadr's release from prison on 28 July 2009 following her illegal arrest.
Shadi Sadr, an Iranian human rights activist and lawyer, was violently beaten and abducted by plain-clothes officials while on her way to Friday prayers in Tehran on 17 July 2009. Shadi's friends and family were not informed of any charges against her. Equality Now is delighted to learn that she has been released from prison. We would like to thank all our members for their concerted efforts in contacting the Iranian government for Shadi's release.
Wanted: Crafty Volunteers!
August 8, 2009
Want to use that innate artistic ability you know you possess to do charity work? We know you do! Austin Browncoats are in need of knitters and individuals to paint Kaylee parasols. This just might be the creative, charity outlet you're seeking.
Knitters
Many of you heard about our knit-a-thon at Dragon*Con 2008. Claudia knit 12 hats during the course of booth hours, which is an impressive feat. The hats are so popular that we have pre-orders coming in weekly. We're looking for individuals that are interested in helping us knit hats for charity. For more information about the charities we support, visit: www.austinbrowncoats.com/charity.php.
We will provide you with a starter kit, that will include the pattern or pattern and yarn (according to if you want to donate your knitting time or your knitting time AND yarn). We will provide receipts to all knitters to document time, as well as monetary donations.
We are in need of knit wool and acrylic hats, but are not in need of crocheted Jayne hats currently. We are working on being able to provide acrylic yarn, but as of right now, we can only provide wool yarn.
Parasols
We are also in need of folks to help paint some of those shiny, rainbow colored parasols as seen carried by our favorite mechanic, Kaylee. We'll provide the parasols, but as a volunteer, you will need to provide your own paint and, of course, painting skill! We will need some parasols completed in time for Dragon*Con (September 4-7th), so the sooner you can work your artistic magic, the better!
Dragon*Con!!
Speaking of Dragon*Con, Austin Browncoats could use some more enthusiastic volunteers to help run our booth. We have 2 and 4 hour shifts available, and while you can work multiple shifts, we require at least a 30 minute lunch break for all Booth Salesman. You will need to be comfortable handling cash, credit and personal check transactions. We have a standard issue wireless credit card machine.
If you are interested in any of these positions, please write to volunteer@austinbrowncoats.com. As always, you can view all of our volunteer opportunities at our website at www.austinbrowncoats.com/volunteercurrent.php.
We look forward to working with you!
Volunteer Spotlight
July 17, 2009
We appreciate all of our volunteers' hard work and dedication. We also know that some volunteers go above and beyond the call of duty. Every quarter, we'll announce our Volunteer Spotlight, an outstanding Austin Browncoat Volunteer.
These star volunteers are nominated by other Austin Browncoats. To nominate star volunteers, visit our volunteer page: www.austinbrowncoats.com/volunteer.php
Third Quarter 2009
Volunteer Spotlight: Outstanding Volunteer
Kazia Hodges
Geekstravaganza 2009 Recap
7/14/2009
Geekstravaganza 2009 was, and always will be, a night to remember. It was our first time hosting an event at Buffalo Billiards, and it most definitely will not be our last time. There are so many people we'd like to thank for their support and help in making Geekstravaganza a success – you know who you are!
First off, Buffalo Billiards – thank you for allowing us to use your venue at such a discounted rate. We are truly inspired by your generosity and cool, laid-back style of running your venue.
Marian Call – you are an Angel on the stage. It must be hard when you're traveling cross-country and performing almost every night, but you are a true pro at such a young age. And thank you for singing Happy Birthday to our Vice-Chair, Ryan Campbell.
Ryan Campbell, Chairman of the Geekstravaganza Committee – you put this event together on a shoestring budget and kept cool in the process, knowing the next day, you were leaving for Basic Training. We're so proud of you and everything you accomplished with Geekstravaganza.
To Our Sponsors: Alamo Drafthouse, Funimation, Fan Done, Titan Comics, Dragon's Lair, Capstone Comics and The Simplifiers – you allowed us to give away the shiniest prizes for all of our events and raffle. You made it possible to give everyone the opportunity to take something shiny home. We are so grateful to have sponsors who are continually willing to go above and beyond for us.
We'd also like to thank all of the supportive press outlets, such as KLBJ, News8Austin, Austin Chronicle, for their continued support. You can't stop the signal!
A huge round of applause and exclaimed support goes out to our benefactor for Geekstravaganza 2009, SafePlace. Something us Austin Browncoats feel strongly about is our desire to end violence and discrimination worldwide. Now, this is not an overnight job, nor is it a one-man show. This is something that takes a worldwide effort to do. This is something that takes courage and perseverance to continue to fight a fight that has been going on since, well, seemingly the dawn of humanity. When we first discussed SafePlace as a possible benefactor, it took us less than a second to decide that they were the right place. SafePlace isn't just a shelter, or a quick-fix establishment. They truly believe in education as a huge part of fighting this long, arduous battle against violence and discrimination. They focus on healing and prevention, as well as offering a safe place for victims of sexual and domestic violence to go, to call, to seek legal advice, to seek medical assistance. Truly, the list goes on. They are working to promote social change, so that we can one day live in a world where 3 out of 4 Americans don't know someone who has been the victim of sexual or domestic abuse. They are working to ensure that one day, we'll be able to look at sexual and domestic abuse as part of our history – a history that we will never forget, because we must always learn from our mistakes, no matter how egregious. We want to send our thanks and undying gratitude to SafePlace, because we've all known someone who has, at one point or another, needed a safe place.
And last, but certainly not least, our volunteers – being an Austin Browncoat is one of the best experiences of my life. Part of that is because of how amazing our volunteer force has been throughout the years. Perhaps I'm getting overly sentimental, especially since our 2 year anniversary of Incorporation is upon us, but truly it's because we are blessed with the most talented, hard-working and inspirational volunteers in the 'Verse. Nothing we do would be possible without our volunteers, including our Board Members, Claudia Drinovsky and Jennifer Henderson, and our webmaster, Kazia Hodges. She is the mastermind behind our new design for www.geekstravaganza.com.
Geekstravaganza opened it's doors at 5PM and saw 50 amazing attendees walk-in smiling, because how often do you get to have a geeky, fun time while supporting charity? Not often enough! We started off the event with an amazing talent contest, in which we had a talented singer/songwriter/guitar player grace our stage, a Dancing Queen, a guy who swears that He's Super! Thanks for Asking!, as well as a Bad Ass Poet! Everyone left a winner, but our Poet walked off with the big prize! We let folks know all about Austin Browncoats and what we do and then started our Costume Contest. We had an amazing turnout, primarily because we love to see folks try to convince us they're in a costume. We had a ninja, Link, a Red Stripe guy, a crazy chef, an old Independent law woman trying to arrest us all and more! In the end, Link won first prize, the chef won second place and our ninja, who was also our Poet from the talent show, won third place.
After the Costume Contest, the ethereal Marian Call regaled us in song and entertained us all the way into Cry Havoc's demonstration of their awe-inspiring combat techniques. They also did a brief demonstration of the rules for Air Combat. Now, if you weren't at Geekstravaganza, you might be asking yourself: Self, what's Air Combat? It's something us Austin Browncoats made up! Everyone loves Air Guitar, but we thought that creating a non-violence Combat Tournament would fit in more with our goal to end violence and discrimination worldwide. During Air Combat, you're not allowed to have any physical contact with your opponent. You can use any style of martial arts, but all contact must be made with the air/invisible appendages and/or weapons. Our own Secretary, Claudia Drinovsky won Air Combat, with Ryan Campbell, our Vice-Chair, coming in third place! Jesse Crouch, a new Austin Browncoat, won second place.
Michael from SafePlace came to Geekstravaganza to let us know where our donated money would go and how they would benefit from our assistance. He told us many stories, letting us know that any and all help is needed and greatly appreciated. When Michael left the stage, there were many additional resolute faces; attendees who weren't familiar with SafePlace or the severity of the sexual and domestic violence issue we're facing today were introduced to why we all worked so hard to make Geekstravaganza a reality.
Then, we had out Sci-Fi SAT, which is the geekiest of all geek tests. The Sci-Fi SAT is not for the faint of heart. You need to study all geek media in order to beat the Sci-Fit SAT champ - me! We didn't have a winner this year, but it looks like we're going to have a lot of geeks sign up next year in order to prove their geekdom!
After a small break, we gave out raffle prizes and then were entranced by the lovely Marian Call for the rest of the evening, including singing happy birthday to Ryan. After Marian's final set, we let folks know that they didn't have to go home, but they couldn't stay at Buffalo Billiards.
All in all, the event was a success! We had side games for folks to play, including Guess The Shatner?, Pin the Pom-Pom on the Jayne Hat and How Many Red Blood Cell are in the test tube? We also had pool tables and a full booth of Geeky Merchandise, which can all be found at www.whedonwares.com.
We made $500 for SafePlace and educated a few people about the necessity of an organization such as SafePlace, which is priceless.
Again, thanks to everyone who helped make Geekstravaganza 2009 a reality. We'll see you next year!
Elizabeth Nelson
Chairman
Austin Browncoats
CSTS Austin Preliminary Tally
7/4/2009
Austin's Can't Stop the Serenity 2009 was a great success. All three showings were sold out, and many Browncoats and others showed up to support Equality Now and Kids Need to Read while enjoying the Big Damn Movie on the big screen once again.
Though we are still working on the final figures, it is looking like our total raised will be over $19,000. You heard us... $19,000! We are extremely excited about this outcome and will have the final totals very soon. Thank you to everyone who helped make this year's Austin CSTS so amazing!