This year was the 4^th year of the Armadillo Art Glass Initiative (AAGI) in Austin, TX.  Organized by Craig Lewis, Sarah Hauser and Aymie McKesson, this event has become one of the biggest charitable events in our industry.  Over the past four years, AAGI has raised over $145,000 for Meals on Wheels, Central Texas!!!  Glass Alchemy has support this event from the start and we will continue to be there as a partner sponsor in the years to come. 

Each year, this event does a monumental amount of work to help bring artists together from across Texas and the US.  The first year, Craig, Sarah and Aymie set a fundraising target of $10,000.  Everyone thought they were reaching too high, given it was a first year event.  But they blew their target out of the water with a 50% increase and raised over 15k!  With a ton of community support, AAGI has been able to exceed expectations year after year.

For the second year in a row, the Armadillo Art Glass Initiative was hosted by St. Elmo’s Fire, GRAV Labs and South Austin Boro Supply.  With the support of these businesses, participants and everyone on social media, this event keeps getting stronger and stronger.  Each year, the community steps up, by helping to cut the organizations administrative costs and creating high demand pieces for auction, which increases the donation amount to Meals on Wheels.   

This year AAGI raised over $60,000 in support of Meals on Wheels!  To put this in perspective, every $25 donation equals 10 meals, plus services for the elderly like meal delivery, prescription pickups and more.  AAGI and our community just helped supply 24,000 meals to people in need.  This is Amazing!!

A special thanks goes out to the crew from The Michigan Glass Project – Allison, Drew, J Ross and Pakua joined Craig and his team and threw down some major support!!  Later this week, The Michigan Glass Project kicks off their event benefiting Art Road, a Detroit non-profit that is actively putting art classes back into Detroit Public Schools.  Glass Alchemy has sponsored both of these events since the start and we will continue to support them in the future.  It is amazing what this industry can do, when we band together for the greater good!!!