Doing Good

Generous San Antonio neighbor named the most charitable place in Texas

Donations upon donations.

One bright spot during this difficult time has been watching people up their charitable contributions, whether that means giving money to causes they support or donating goods that didn't make the cut during a quarantine deep clean.

But even before the pandemic, certain counties in Texas were making a noticeable impact with their generosity. SmartAsset recently released its 2019 ranking of the top 10 most charitable-minded Texas counties, using two equally weighted factors to index the findings.

The financial website looked at how much people donate as a percentage of their net income, and the proportion of people in a given county who made charitable donations.

To find the first number, they calculated the net income of all people in each county (by looking at tax return data and accounting for federal, state, and local taxes paid). They also accounted for deductible entries like mortgage interest, mortgage points, and mortgage insurance payments. Then, they divided each county's total charitable donations by its total net income to see how much county residents are donating relative to their income.

For the second factor, they took the total number of tax returns with charitable contributions and divided them by the number of total tax returns for each county. That produced the proportion of people in each county who make charitable donations.

Claiming the top spot is Kendall County, located just north of San Antonio and home to Boerne. Though technically fourth in the donation index, its residents made up for it with their contributor rate of 67.7, the highest on the list.

Fort Bend County, home to Houston neighbor Sugar Land, had similar results to grab its No. 2 finish, with middling donations being rescued by the second-highest rate of contributors, 66.4

Dallas-Fort Worth takes the next three spots, with Collin (home of Plano), Tarrant (Fort Worth and Arlington), and Denton (where University of North Texas' main campus is located) counties showing wildly varying results.

Tarrant County is pretty evenly split, with 40.6 for donations and 46.4 for contributors, but Collin and Denton deliver lower donation scores. At 25.1, Collin is the fourth-lowest, and Denton's 24.6 is next to last.

At No. 6 overall is Gillespie, where you'll find Fredericksburg, and No. 7 is Montgomery, home of Lake Conroe and The Woodlands. Brazoria County, on The Gulf, has the lowest donation index in the top 10, at 23.7, but its contributor score of 55.1 pulls it up to No. 8.

Coming in at No. 9 is Smith, found east of DFW and the county seat of Tyler. Its 38.6 contributor index is closely matched by 38.9 for donations. Wrapping up the list at No. 10 is Parker County, west of Fort Worth, where Weatherford is located. Its total score clocks in 15 points below the most charitable county on the list, with a donation index of 24.8 and contributor index of 52.7.

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SPARE ART

North San Antonio gets crafty with new creative supplies shop

Photo by Ismael Rodriguez.

Local nonprofit Spare Parts recently opened its brick-and-mortar center for creative reuse.

One local nonprofit organization has spent years getting environmental accountability and community education down to a fine art. And now it’s getting crafty with a new brick-and-mortar shop in North San Antonio aimed to help locals to go green.

Spare Parts was founded in 2010 by executive director and longtime arts educator Mary Elizabeth Cantú to provide a creative spark for area students and schools lacking arts funding and resources. Through a variety of educational programs, public art exhibitions, events, and the organization’s traveling Mini Art Museum, Spare Parts has enlightened thousands of students and San Antonians, all while fostering reuse practices and sustainability, a key tenet of the nonprofit.

Spare Parts’ latest endeavor is another artistic triumph. Its new center for creative reuse, located at 13451 Wetmore Rd., is nothing less than a crafter’s delight. The shop features an impressive array of “pre-loved” and price-reduced artsy merchandise — from paint supplies and paper crafts to sewing items, beading and jewelry, school and office supplies, vintage gadgets, and crafting kits — all of which has been rescued from area landfills.

Cantú notes that proceeds from the new Spare Parts’ shop will enable the organization to further increase creative and educational experiences for San Antonio students and families. But even more so, she hopes the shop will help locals embrace the concept that one person’s trash can be another’s artistic treasure.

“There really isn’t any more room in the world for this stuff. Buying pre-loved at places like Spare Parts or other stores is a way to reduce the amount of things [people] feel that they need,” Cantú said in a recent interview with the San Antonio Sentinel. “We’re challenging people to rethink things around them, buy pre-loved, and find a way to be creative in their lives.”

In the time of COVID-19, however, getting the creative juices flowing isn’t as simple as popping into the Spare Parts shop. Though the center for creative reuse is open, the store is currently offering only weekend curbside pickup of items ordered through its website. But crafters shouldn’t despair, as Spare Parts is offering private in-person shopping experiences in the new year, with the first planned for January 16 and 17.

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