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There were several things one could note about Thursday night’s Austin Aspires 10th anniversary celebration. Namely, that it was a celebration by all accounts.

A Decade of Community, Collaboration and Connection was also a fundraiser, but the common thread running through everything could be boiled down to one word: Gratitude.

“We want to make sure this evening we’re showing gratitude,” said Austin Aspires Executive Director Jayne Gibson prior to the night’s presentation. “Respect for those that lifted us up along the way and continued to make it possible to be here and celebrate this event. You don’t do anything on your own without that incredible support.”

Austin Aspires has come a long way in a decade. Born out of the original Vision 2020 initiative, the organization has turned into a hub of connections that have brought a variety of groups together to support educational foundations in Austin.

And it’s done so in a relatively short amount of time, building off those connections to continue moving forward in that support role.

“It sounds cheesy, it sounds flippant, but the reality is relationships, relationships, relationships,” Gibson said. “I won’t say you can’t do anything on your own, it’s just so much more effective when you bring partners together.”

From those relationships have come shared goals and shared visions that Gibson said has been important in forming difference-making strategies.

Those strategies, in turn, have been used to establish bridges between areas of need. She went on to stress that the value has been establishing these supports and filling a niche of identifying those families that need help and forming lasting relationships built on trust.

“Austin Aspires has really done a great job of filling the gap,” Gibson said. “We are a research rich community from the lens of we are fortunate to have organizations in the community that are here to support youth and families.”

A hallmark of this has been those driving what Austin Aspires was doing. During her presentation, Gibson thanked a long list of volunteers that combined their skills to help make Austin Aspires what it is today. An effort, she told the crowd, that was started during the earliest meetings at the Austin Public Library.

“It was your vision that was the spark that started it all,” she told those gathered Thursday night at the Hormel Historic Home.

It was a point Gibson spoke to earlier in the evening as well.

“I think the thing we hear the most often is, ‘10 years already?’” she said. “It seems like just yesterday we were sitting at the table talking about what if we had an organization like this? I think just like a parent watching a child grow or any individual that takes on a new career and new position, there are times it feels like, ‘oh my goodness, it’s taking forever.’ Or there are times it feels like in a blink.”

All of this, Gibson said, comes down to establishing a future for the youth of Austin and the importance these efforts carry with yet another aspect that was celebrated Thursday night.

“The work we do, helping the 91% of the seniors we helped in 2023 graduate, doesn’t just impact that individual senior,” Gibson said. “That impacts multiple generations. It will impact that child’s family, it will impact those children. It has this ripple effect that grows across generations, which really means a lot.”