The Austin Blessings Co-op

It started with a vision for how to meet the needs of our community…

Back in 2005, Pastor Dave Haney and a handful of leaders at Riverbend had a crazy idea for starting a new kind of outreach ministry. Rather than focusing on a specific area of need — homelessness, rehabilitation, malnutrition, etc. — we would establish local community centers that could focus on a specific area in need. Through our Neighborhood Development Centers (NDCs) in East Austin and South Austin, we’re able to provide for the emotional, practical and spiritual needs of whole neighborhoods through food pantries, community events, educational opportunities, Bible study/prayer groups, and much more.

…and led to the establishment of the Co-op in 2021.

With the success of the NDCs in South and East Austin, the Riverbend team decided to for the Austin Blessings Co-op in 2021. The Co-op is a collaboration of people, churches, and organizations on a mission to meet our city’s practical, emotional, and spiritual needs, one person at a time. Through the Co-op, we’re able to bring all of the services provided by the NDCs together under one umbrella. Doing so allows us to greatly increase our capacity to bring on new volunteers, explore new partnerships that help meet the needs of our vulnerable neighbors in Austin, and allow for scalable growth into new areas in Austin, Mexico, and around the world.

The Austin Blessings Co-op is operated by Riverbend Church. Riverbend is deeply committed to meeting our city’s practical, emotional, and spiritual needs. The Co-op primarily operates out of Riverbend’s NDCs in South Austin & East Austin.

Volunteer with the Austin Blessings Co-Op

The Austin Blessings Co-op is a collaboration of people and organizations on a mission to meet our city’s practical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Whether it’s one afternoon of serving in a month, or 20 hours every week, we rely on an extraordinary group of volunteers from all over Austin to meet the needs of our neighbors. If you’d like to volunteer, sign up below.