AVCSG Newsletter #18
- Christina Wright
- Apr 21
- 4 min read
Contact us at: altavistasustainabilitygroup@gmail.com NEW FACEBOOK GROUP: facebook.com/SustainAltaVista/ INSTAGRAM: @SustainAltaVista Use this link to join our Signal Chat group! Help Line: 210-446-8027 NEWS Happy Earth Day and Texas Native Wildflower Day! Lots to celebrate this week as AVCSG celebrates our one year anniversary. We’ve had a tremendous year getting to know all of you and learning about what is important for our neighborhood community’s sustainability. AVCSG has had two pop-up events, and shared plants, seeds, foods, and garden materials, while encouraging neighbors to think about restoring yards and easement spaces to native gardens. Six neighbor households were supported by our grant, and we had wonderful fun with the planting days, and lots of learning. We’ll be continuing with more garden projects, and we’re receiving help through our CRN POD network from the City of San Antonio Material Innovation Center (MIC) to get materials for benches, little free libraries, and raised garden kits. AVCSG hosted a Community Potluck, that also became a freeze day rally point, at Midtown Meetup. We’re also supporting the Midtown Meetup indoor food pantry as a part of our Food Sharing Network. Our hope as we move forward this year is that YOU will become a part of the we and those of us that are joining together to make many hands at work to promote sustainability activities in our neighborhood. The list and excitement continues to grow! FYI Did you know that the Alta Vista Community Sustainability Group is a separate organization from the Alta Vista Neighborhood Association?
We’re all about sustainability, environmental education, and community projects. For things like zoning, street work, parking, development, the VIA Green Line, stray or feral animals, neighbor issues, graffiti, squatters, homelessness, or easement maintenance, those are better directed to the D1 Council Office, 311, or AVNA (avna@altavistana.org). Thanks for helping keep things pointed in the right direction and for caring about Alta Vista! COMMUNITY CONNECTORS Join us on Saturday May 2nd for our first Community Connectors event for painting garden rocks craft, for both kids and adults, plus coffee, light snacks, and good conversation. You’ll have a chance to sign up for your street or block, and find out all about how to strengthen our community. Plus, you can get in on the Planning Team’s calendar for ideas of neighborhood wide events, like summer block parties and a summer shed clean out/material reuse garden swap/garage sale day!  RSVP encouraged, but not required! Drop by and bring a friend! Please consider helping AVCSG strengthen our community by volunteering as a Community Connector. The idea is that there is one person on each block that will help get information to their neighbors and build relationships with those who need the connection. Many neighbors are not on social media and feel isolated without access to community programs. Send us an email at altavistasustainabilitygroup@gmail.com to connect with us on this and other ways to be involved! GARDEN CLUB Garden Club is coming along! The gardens are looking amazing. Check out our new AVCSG Micro Gardens page for more photos! Look out for new hand painted signs by Kacey to be rolled out soon! |
Join our signal group to ask questions, share photos, and inspire each other! Use this link to join our Signal Chat group! RECIPE OF THE MONTH We are going to share a recipe each month that uses something our neighbors have planted in their gardens. If you have any submissions, shoot us an email us!  SEASONAL TIPS & INFO With all this rain we’ve been having, it’s a great time to think about your landscape and see if you have an area suitable for a rain garden. Spots where water collects? Misdirected gutter spouts or roof run off?  There are many benefits to having a spot that’s specifically designed to help capture rain water and it's incredibly beneficial for our neighborhood eco-system. Practical reasons include; reduce flooding, improve water quality, recharge groundwater, conserve water, create food and habitat for birds and butterflies, reduce mosquito breeding, reduce garden maintenance, remove standing water in your yard. Check out these resources below, and join us on Signal Chat or follow us on FB/Insta to connect with other neighborhood gardeners! https://www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-rain-gardens https://www.sariverauthority.org/blog-news/how-to-build-your-own-residential-rain-garden/ https://takecareoftexas.org/about-us/blog/soak-rain-how-build-rain-garden ALTA VISTA MOVES Get Ready! Get Moving!  Meet up weekly on Thursdays at 7pm at the AV Community Micro Garden at the corner of N Flores and Agarita. Bring a small trash bag and gloves to pick up trash along the route - only if you want, we thought it'd be a great idea because there’s so much of it! Kids and family groups are more than welcome. We’ll head out on a walk to San Pedro Springs Park, follow the trail around one time, and head back. Those who wish to run or bike are more than welcome to start off with the group. Connect with us if you’d like to lead a group walk, bike, run, or stay with those who want to use the time for stretching or light yoga. Follow us on social media for weekly reminders! ***Weather Permitting*** INDOOR FOOD PANTRY AVCSG has partnered with Midtown Meetup to support an indoor food pantry! The food pantry has shelves for dry goods, canned foods, and a small fridge space for fresh produce and eggs. Please consider donating food to the food pantry when you can and take what you need! M-F 3pm - 1am and Sat-Sun 12pm - 1am  AVCSG POP UPS Looking forward to October - we’re moving this to the fall to line up with the next planting season and round of SAWS Water Saver Coupons and CPS Tree Rebates! COMMUNITY POTLUCKS Looking forward to the summer! Or maybe a block party - reach out about becoming a Community Connector if you love this idea and want to help us out! LOCAL BUSINESS & ORGANIZATIONS Click here to support neighborhood local business and organizations.  Please forward our newsletter to a neighbor as an invite to have them sign up by emailing us to be included in our directory. Spanish speaking? We need a volunteer who can translate our materials! We’re 90 neighbors strong who are receiving this newsletter now but our potential is exponential! Copyright (C) 2026 Alta Vista Community Sustainability Group. All rights reserved. |
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