Baby2Baby Gala 2024

It was a family affair at this year’s Baby2Baby gala — John Paul, Eloise, Alexis and Michaeline were all in attendance. Paul Mitchell is a faithful sponsor for Baby2Baby, a nonprofit that provides children living in poverty across the country with diapers, clothing and all the basic necessities that every child deserves. The star-studded event this year raised an incredible $17 MILLION for these basic needs.

Did you know?

  • Diapers are the 4th highest household expenditure (after rent, food and utilities) for low-income families.

  • Baby2Baby created its own diaper manufacturing system to produce them at 80% less than the retail cost.

  • Baby2Baby has distributed over 200 million diapers to families in need across the country.

Butterfly Ball 🦋 Award

This year is the 40th anniversary of Chrysalis in LA. In that time, they’ve helped 85,000 people with job resources and placement in and around Skid Row. John Paul was so proud to receive an award as a longtime supporter and friend of the organization.

And it was a family reunion of sorts! One of John Paul’s oldest and dearest friends, in fact the guy that gave John Paul a job when he was down and out a long time ago, surprised him by presenting the award. Thanks so much John Capra! Other friends and family joined to celebrate as well. And Bandero, John Paul’s newest tequila company, sponsored the event with Bandero and Bandero Coffee Liqueur cocktails.

John Paul spoke about his first jobs and how hard he worked when no one was looking. He talked about how success is what YOU believe you are, not what others say you are. With his lived experience of homelessness and of working hard to get where he is, we think John Paul is a wonderful inspiration and deserving recipient of this award!

Arts Grants

"Art helps every human and raises capability, consciousness and awareness. Art creates culture."

John Paul DeJoria

We decided to do a little something different as we head into the long summer months in Austin. A lot of events and fundraising slow down, but we wanted to commit to funding some nonprofits who are building and sustaining community and culture through the arts. These various organizations use art to meet the needs of their communities that work with veterans, people who have experienced trauma, people in recovery, people who have been historically underrepresented in arts and business investment.

Here are the five organizations we chose to support:

  • Center for Survivors of Torture — Their mission and goal is to facilitate healing, ease transitions, and facilitate hope in survivors of torture and trauma. Last year they served 850 clients and their families in Texas, ages 4-75 from 38 countries. Their art classes and traditional craft groups are just one of the many healing modalities they employ to foster and sustain community healing.

  • DAWA — They believe in a world where DIVERSITY is a source of strength, AWARENESS normalizes challenging the status quo, WELLNESS is a collective journey, and ACTION means equitable investment of time and resources to historically underrepresented populations.

  • Museum of Human Achievement — They are a community-driven space grounded in affordability, inclusivity and access for artists. They also help other artists seek funding and increase their impact.

  • Reklaimed — This nonprofit is centered around woodworking and visual arts in order to help individuals in addiction recovery foster community through sharing skills and being of service.

  • Art Spark Texas — This organization challenges perceptions of how people contribute by creating an arts-inspired, inclusive community of individuals with diverse abilities. Their diverse services include services for current and prior military members and family. The arts are important to veterans because, for many military personnel, the arts are a way to express what they saw, heard, and experienced during service.

As you can see, they are all very different in what they seek to do, but all amazing. So grateful for a robust community of artists in Central Texas and these organizations that keep it all going!

Regenerative Ag in Central Texas

The Refugee Collective (formerly Multicultural Refugee Coalition) has been a partner for several years now. They help welcome, train and sustain refugee families in Austin through their projects. They have a 20-acre organic farm and community garden - New Leaf Agriculture - that connects refugees to sustainable farming opportunities. We helped purchase their farm tractor awhile back and were happy to help get a new no-till-seed-drill and other implements to help them move to their carbon farm plan and regenerative agriculture model. Getting to see that baby on its inaugural run dropping seeds for a cover crop was very exciting! And it’s such a great time to be on a farm - Spring in Texas!

Meet Fran, Jr.

We were so excited to welcome a new van to the fleet (of 2) vans being used by Keep Austin Fed to rescue food. Businesses like Trader Joe’s, restaurants and caterers let Keep Austin Fed know when they have surplus food that’s about to go to waste, and Keep Austin Fed uses its network of volunteers (and vans like Fran Jr.!) to collect the food and get it to community partners. In April 2024 alone, Keep Austin Fed rescued 99,662 pounds of food, which is equivalent to 83,108 meals! That’s amazing! We were so happy to pitch in for this van that will help nourish our neighbors.

25 Years of Mobile Loaves & Fishes

We are so proud to have been working with the folks at Mobile Loaves & Fishes for more than a decade now on their Community First! Village. We’ve helped build tiny homes, bought trailers, built their Entrepreneur Hub/ Art Studio. But their work goes back even longer than that -- this year was 25 years of serving goodness and bringing hope to Austin’s unhoused. What started as a mobile food truck business is now on its way to becoming a place where nearly 2000 people can find home and healing. We are so grateful for their presence in our community.

Check out John Paul in this video tribute to Alan Graham and the MLF team:

Person of the Year!

John Paul was awarded Person of the Year at the Friendly House LA’s Stronger Together Awards Luncheon. His friends Angus Mitchell and Keely Brosnan surprised John Paul by presenting him with this award. The Friendly House provides women seeking recovery from alcohol and other substance use disorders with a safe, structured and supportive home-like environment that fosters recovery, personal growth and civic responsibility. John Paul and Eloise have both been dedicated to helping folks living with addiction to find treatment and recovery. We want to thank Brandy Ledford for her commitment to Friendly House and her work on making this day a success!

El Buen Samaritano - fresh food delivered!

Though they have served Austin for 35 years, we first met El Buen Samaritano a year ago and started brainstorming ways to help them with their food pantry/food delivery model. They serve more than 12,000 people a year, increasingly in areas that are further away from Central Austin as the city grows and gets more expensive. We helped them purchase a refrigerated van that will help carry 280 boxes at a time (their old van could only hold 80 and wasn’t climate controlled) to make sure they can get food to families and partners who need it. As El Buen Director Dr. Sylvia Murillo said, “When people see this van, they get to experience happiness, joy and respect.” That’s our hope for the families and individuals who may be new to the Austin area or who might just need a little assistance right now. Thank you especially to Juan Rosa for making all the deliveries!!!

Common Ground Film

Last week was an exciting one to be in Austin — Common Ground premiered at and SOLD OUT our beloved partner and Austin institution, the Paramount Theatre. John Paul is a proud executive producer of this film that highlights the importance of returning to indigenous practices and regenerative farming to help our planet and our bodies heal from years of industrial, chemical-laden farming. In addition to helping produce the film, the foundation just donated to make sure the film can be shown in as many schools as possible to make sure that children are educated about the importance of healthy soils and foods. If you can, check out this film in a city near you!