The Charlie Center

03/21/2026

Henri gets a home!

03/21/2026

Yesterday would have been Charlie's 77th birthday. And his hope was to move out off the streets and into a home at Community First! Village. Sadly, Charlie never got to realize that dream. But we honored Charlie's dream by moving Henri into a home last week.

Henri is a hardworking immigrant from Belgium who became a naturalized citizen. He is intelligent, well-spoken, and funny. He is a musician and loves the Beatles. Due to an accident, he lost part of his leg and his savings and was forced to begin living in his car. Initially ashamed of his downward trajectory, he later decided to come to The Charlie Center for help.

The only sad things about this move-in is that we will miss seeing Henri at Charlie--he is the favorite of many! What an honor it was to serve such a strong, resilient man! 💜

03/14/2026

I met Travis this week. He had a place to live, then his mom died last Thanksgiving. Then he didn't have a place to live. Homelessness can happen just that fast. He also lost his 5-year old son to pneumonia. While we talked, I noticed the colorful tabs on his cap. "Those are zip ties," he said. "This is my lucky cap. My son put those there. I'll never take them off." He has experienced so much pain...but is still trying to move forward.

03/06/2026

Thank you to our incredible community for participating in Amplify Austin and helping us reach our $5000 goal! We are excited to get our shower trailer repaired and can't wait for more "clean starts" to take place at The Charlie Center!

03/05/2026

Help us raise $5000 to repair the tankless water heater on our shower trailer! https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/the-charlie-center

03/05/2026

This year for Amplify Austin, The Charlie Center is raising $5000 to repair our shower trailer's tankless water heater. The water heater was seriously damaged after the most recent freeze. We'd appreciate your support so that we can continue to provide hot showers for our homeless community!

02/24/2026

This is what joy looks like... We worked for MONTHS to get Isaac's birth certificate. He was adopted with multiple name changes, and all of those changes were not registered with the county. But Isaac needed an ID to get a job. FINALLY our hard work paid off (after ordering 5, 6, 7? birth certificates). "I've never held my birth certificate before," Isaac said, in wonder. We didn't give up, and neither did he. Soon Isaac will have a Texas ID in hand!

02/14/2026

Everybody knows that the place to get a Texas ID is The Charlie Center. We are also proud to help many of our clients replace their Legal Permanent Resident cards. On Thursday, Irene came in empty-handed...but left full of joy and gratitude!

02/02/2026

One of the best parts of my job is loving people. One of the worst parts of my job is losing people I love. On Wednesday, my longtime friend John died. Over the years, I watched him suffer with alcoholism. I celebrated his move-in day at Community First. I never posted his move-in video because his answers were so random. "John, why is today a good day?" (hint, because you got a home) "It's sunny," he answered. 😂 John eventually quit drinking, but his health never recovered. I'm so thankful he got to live indoors for over 2 years before he died. RIP, John Bowen. You were so special.

01/27/2026

12/21/2025

Two of our favorites, Dorothy and Carl, moved out of the woods and into a home of their own this week. You can see the soaked pad on the ground where they had been sleeping (due to the wet weather this past week). It was touching to see both of them remove their shoes to keep the floor of their new home clean. According to Dorothy, two difficulties of being homeless were not being able to get to places on time and not getting adequate sleep (due to staying up all night to protect belongings from theft). Dorothy and Carl look forward to being able to rest in safety and comfort. 💜

12/11/2025

I had the honor of moving Ronnie out of his car and into a home on Tuesday. Ronnie lived in his van for the past year. I was impressed with the interior…everything in its place. He said it is very hard to find a place to park overnight in Austin. He’s looking forward to peace and privacy in his new home. 💜