{"id":372156,"date":"2026-07-14T05:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372156\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T05:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:28:12","slug":"music-auctions-to-support-medically-fragile-children-at-cota-gala-bastrop-cedar-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372156\/","title":{"rendered":"Music, auctions to support medically fragile children at COTA gala | Bastrop – Cedar Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music, auctions and a mission to support medically fragile children will come together when Abbey Lights Up COTA<\/a> returns for its eighth year.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening<\/p>\n

The fundraising gala will take place Aug. 22 at Circuit of the Americas<\/a> and feature:<\/p>\n

AuctionsDrinksFoodRafflesMusicChet Garner<\/a>, creator, host and executive producer of \u201cThe Daytripper,\u201d will serve as emcee.\"\"\/Officials are raising money to build Texas’ first dedicated, non-hospital pediatric hospice and respite facility. Abbey House would provide temporary overnight care outside a hospital setting, giving caregivers time to rest or tend to other family needs. (Rendering courtesy Abigail E. Keller Foundation)Where the money goes<\/p>\n

Proceeds will support the Abigail E. Keller Foundation<\/a>\u2019s assistance programs for medically fragile and terminally ill children and their families, according to a news release.<\/p>\n

Those efforts include providing:<\/p>\n

Care baskets for families when a child enters hospiceDirect financial assistancePersonalized birthday celebrations for children receiving hospice careThe Butterfly Grant, which will be awarded during the galaFunds will also support the foundation\u2019s effort to establish Abbey House\u2014a proposed pediatric respite and hospice facility in Central Texas.<\/p>\n

Digging deeper<\/p>\n

Foundation officials envision Abbey House as a place where children with complex or life-limiting medical conditions can receive temporary overnight care outside a hospital.<\/p>\n

Trained staff members would follow each child\u2019s established care plan, allowing parents and other caregivers time to rest, focus on other family members or manage additional responsibilities, according to the foundation.<\/p>\n

Those interested can donate to the efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Circuit of the Americas will light up pink in honor of Abigail E. Keller on Aug. 22. (Courtesy Raul Buitrago)Why it matters<\/p>\n

More than 85,000 medically fragile children live in Texas, including about 7,500 in Central Texas, according to foundation estimates.<\/p>\n

Officials emphasized that Texas does not offer a non-hospital pediatric respite and hospice facility.<\/p>\n

Some context<\/p>\n

The Austin-based nonprofit was founded in 2019 in memory of Abigail Elizabeth Keller, who experienced medical challenges before dying at age 11, according to the release.<\/p>\n

As previously reported<\/a> by Community Impact, Abigail\u2019s parents\u2014Travis and Melissa Keller\u2014created the foundation to help families caring for children with serious medical conditions.<\/p>\n

What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vision for Abbey House is rooted in the belief that no family should have to face those challenges alone,\u201d foundation President and CEO Melissa Keller said in the release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Music, auctions and a mission to support medically fragile children will come together when Abbey Lights Up COTA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[131814,131812,131813,132,131818,134,133,48898,36164,131815,131817,131816],"class_list":["post-372156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-abbey-house","tag-abbey-lights-up-cota","tag-abigail-e-keller-foundation","tag-austin","tag-austin-gala","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-bastrop-news","tag-central-texas-nonprofits","tag-medically-fragile-children","tag-pediatric-hospice-care","tag-pediatric-respite-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372156","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=372156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}