Doug Overman is the park director for The Levy Park Conservancy. The park's grand opening is on Saturday, February 25th. Headlined by Groupo Fantasma who will play a full concert in the evening, the park's many amenities will finally open to the public. The park also functions as a symbol of how Houstonians view the relationship between work, home and the environment and Non-Profits can work hand in hand with For-Profit entities to accomplish great projects.Check out the park's website for info on the grand opening and make sure to keep an eye on their events calendar. Levy Park is going to be a new place for our performing arts companies to put on great shows.www.Levyparkhouston.org

Andrea Simon is the research coordinator for the SPARK study at Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Robin Kochel is an assistant professor of pediatric psychology at the Baylor College of Medicine and associate director for research for the autism center at the Texas Children's Hospital. She is the principal investigator for SPARK. Judy Blake is the Mother of a 21 year old son living with autism and she is the program coordinator for The Family to Family Network. The SPARK study will collect information and DNA for genetic analysis from 50,000 individuals with autism and their families in order to advance our understanding of this condition and to help develop better support systems and treatments. It's a fascinating conversation with a lot of information you can find on their website: www.sparkforautism.org/texaschildrens or text "SPARK" to 555888 and you will receive the information directly on your phone.

Sara Brown is the communications manager for Coalition for the Homeless and Dr. Cathy Troisi, is an associate professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health. Every year, the Coalition's volunteers go out and count the number of homeless people living in the area. They are adding data from Montgomery county as well. The data then allows our non-profits and government agencies to deploy their resources where they are needed. The goal is to get them all in permanent housing. We know there are in excess of 3600 individuals needing help on any given night. We can help by being informed and volunteering: www.HomelessHouston.org

Oli Mohammed is the executive director of The Furniture Bank. They are celebrating 25 years of service to Houstonians. They debuted their "Adopt a Family" program last year and also moved into new facilities (which officially open in April). They have a new store opened to the public and of course, they will come and pick up your used furniture for free, as they always have. They'll also come get your mattresses for a small fee and then recycle them. That's another facet of this Org: they are selling furniture and recycling mattresses, thereby employing people and paying the bills. They are one of the Orgs in town giving ex-convicts a chance to get employment experience and that too is a great success. Check out their website and think about volunteering for them. It's the most powerful gift you can make to a non-profit. www.HoustonFurnitureBank.org

Steve Lufburrow is the president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Houston and Will Lufburrow is their director of development and special projects. Goodwill employ nearly 2000 people, making them one of the largest employers in Houston. They have been one of the city's economic engines for decades and their business model is designed to help people find employment. Once hired, they obtain training and experience which allow them to move up the ladder, even if that means moving to another company. That's what Goodwill is here for: to help people build a professional future for themselves. They also help veterans find ways to transfer their military skills to the professional world of civilians. They are also a successful, independent business with dozens of great stores all around the Houston area. Check out their website: www.Goodwillhouston.org

Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation

Terry Keane is a tutor with Literacy Advance and Nada Hassan is one of his students. She emigrated from Egypt in 2014 and therefore has a lot interesting observations to make about Texan life in Houston. While she had studied English at the University (She has a degree in Egyptology), this was British English and you can imagine that Texans don't sound anything like that to her! She therefore sought out Literacy Advance to learn how to read and write our way. As Terry mentions, the failure rate among the students of Literacy Advance is zero percent. These are motivated grown-ups doing what they must to get ahead professionally and become contributing members of our community. The organization deserves our help. They are in need of volunteers to tutor so if that's something you think you'd like to get involved with, check out their website: www.literacyadvance.org.

Reginald Hatter is the Executive Director of Workshop Houston and he is one of their ground mentors and educators. With him is 15 year-old Brianna Burns aka Lil' Bri on stage. She is a hip-hop artist and I was extremely impressed with her expertise in Pro-Tools and other professional-standard music and mixing software. She is the embodiment of how successful an Org like Workshop Houston can be by providing great mentorship to children and young adults. They are exposed to the arts and professional training at the same time.Workshop Houston is running a capital campaign to build a new campus that will allow them to quadruple the number of youths they teach. You can donate and find out about their impressive programs on their website: www.workshophouston.org

Hank Rush is the President and CEO of The Star of Hope Mission and Scott Arthur is their director of public relations. The Star of Hope Mission has been caring for Houston's homeless population since 1906. They are now building a superb campus called The Cornerstone Community which will allow them to take in homeless families and provide them with long term psychological counselling, skill training and substance addiction recovery programs. About 95% of their budget comes from donations by Houstonians and Houston companies, demonstrating the power of a community coming together for a worthy cause. You can visit their website for information on their impressive array of programs: www.SOHmission.org

Society for the Performing Arts