{"id":12643,"date":"2025-10-20T18:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/12643\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T18:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:49:07","slug":"hats-in-for-cary-fundraiser-promises-fun-and-meaningful-support-for-austins-at-risk-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/12643\/","title":{"rendered":"Hats in for CARY fundraiser promises fun and meaningful support for Austin’s at-risk youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Council on At-Risk Youth (CARY)<\/a> is getting ready to celebrate a major milestone with the 5th annual Hats in for CARY fundraiser. <\/p>\n

Executive Director Shana Fox and Development Director Ashley Ibsen joined We Are Austin\u2019s Sierra Waggoner to talk about the nonprofit\u2019s 25 years of service \u2014 and how this year\u2019s event combines fun and giving back.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, CARY\u2014the Council on At-Risk Youth\u2014our mission is to empower at-risk youth with the skills to avoid crime and violence,\u201d Fox said. \u201cOur overarching goal is to close the pipeline to prison. We work with kids across 20 different schools, providing both group and individual counseling to promote safe schools, positive choices, and meaningful daily engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year also marks 25 years of CARY making an impact in the Austin community.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver that time, we\u2019ve come a long way. We\u2019re now active in 20 schools across three different Austin-area school districts. This year alone, we expect to serve 2,000 kids with mental health support. Over the past 25 years, we\u2019ve been able to support more than 30,000 youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur work is growing, and we\u2019re excited about expanding our reach \u2014 eventually becoming a statewide agency and even expanding to other cities,\u201d Ashley Ibsen added.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re ready to throw your \u201cHats in for CARY,<\/a>\u201d the event promises more than just fundraising. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, this is our fifth year doing Hats in for CARY,\u201d Ibsen said. \u201cIt takes place at Austin\u2019s Park and Revelry Social Club up on I-35. It\u2019s a fun game night challenge, and what\u2019s great is that Michael Goss and Sean Milberg from Austin\u2019s Park provide all the food and games for free, so everything raised goes directly back to support CARY\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

Ibsen said it\u2019s a friendly competition where teams of six compete in darts, Vegas-style games, pool, and a basketball challenge. \u201cWe end the night by crowning a winner, but really, we\u2019re all winners because we\u2019re giving back to CARY.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters can also get involved beyond the event. \u201c There are opportunities to sign up teams for the event happening this Thursday, but also chances to volunteer, adopt a school, and get involved on a more hands-on, grassroots level. There are always opportunities with the kids, because that\u2019s who we\u2019re serving,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

Tickets and details about the 5th annual Hats in for CARY are available online cary4kids.org\/events\/<\/a>, making it easy for Austinites to support local youth \u2014 and have a great time doing it.<\/p>\n

Before wrapping up the segment, the We Are Austin team proved they still remember their high school days \u2014 scoring a perfect 3-for-3 in a fun round of Are You Smarter Than a Sophomore? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Council on At-Risk Youth (CARY) is getting ready to celebrate a major milestone with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[10635,132,134,133,10634,1964,10636,9405,2125,10637],"class_list":["post-12643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-at-risk-youth","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-cary","tag-community-support","tag-counseling","tag-fundraiser","tag-mental-health","tag-youth-empowerment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}