Drippin' Life April 18

As I may have mentioned before, although my family has lived in Dripping since the 1980s, I knew very little about the community until I moved here in July 2016.

Living in Houston, I had read about the building of a Hindu Temple here – called Barsana Dham then and now known as Radha Madhav Dham -- on 1826 and the plans of converting the acreage owned by the temple into a Hindu ashram and a sprawling residential compound for those practicing the Hindu faith. I also knew my sister and her family, and later, my son and his family enjoyed the more rural lifestyle.

Since those days, Dripping Springs, Texas, has transformed into an awesome collection of subdivisions, commercial and retail businesses as well as an outstanding school district, welcoming church congregations and friendly neighbors.

In Dripping, you’ll meet families who commute to work in Austin or San Marcos but have made their homes here because of the schools. Others love the rolling hills, the breath-taking vistas and the slower-paced, quieter environment.

Still a relative newcomer to this community, I continue to discover – almost daily – people in Dripping who have made me rethink my view of Dripping Springs. Primarily, there is a spirit of generosity here that is nothing short of phenomenal.  Secondly, there are no donations made in Drippin,’ no volunteers.

Instead, I see investors making investments in their community.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking…”she’s parsing words…maybe spinning the story a bit.”

Please allow me to explain:

The dictionary defines donate as “to give or present a gift.” Invest is defined as “to involve, engage or commit.”  A donation is called “a free contribution” while an investment seems to have more depth, explained as “the act of ratifying – sanctioning formally.” Going a step further, to sanction something means “to formally approve, commit to or ratify.”

Being an investor, rather than a donor means more than dropping a few pennies in the pot. It means you are committed to supporting the cause over the long-term. Making an investment in Dripping Springs means much more than gifting. It means you truly believe in making this a better place.

As an example, I have seen this community “takes care of their own,” as they say. Through Dripping’s churches, those in need can receive life (health) or death (grief) counseling, health care, food, clothing and other fulfillment and/or services. To make all this possible, residents of Dripping Springs are investing – their ideas, resources, talents and time, -- to assure these basic human needs are not neglected, regardless of finances, religion, gender, lifestyle or ethnicity.

Every time you attend an event in Tiger Stadium, consider the visionary civic leaders who decided our community needed – and deserved – a first class stadium, who believed in this vision and worked to make this investment in our quality of life happen.

As you park your car, think about the law enforcement officers – those who are part of our local department and those who work security positions – who make it possible for traffic to move relatively smoothly and guide you to your parking place. I also have never experienced theft or vandalism while at a Tiger Stadium event.

Inside the stadium, you have the dual opportunity to invest in the Dripping Springs ISD music program (K-12) and enjoy good food – not your typical “stadium stuff” but truly good food every time you visit the concessions. Every worker is an investor, freely investing their time and making a commitment to making this school system one of the best – if not the best – in the state.

When people typically think of the terms, “investment” and “investor,” they may think about buying a piece of a venture and expecting a return on their money. In investing in this community, we can be sure of better services, better opportunities for everyone, more first-class facilities for ourselves and visitors to this area and better schools to prepare Dripping students to successfully compete in our ever more competitive world.

So the next time you’re asked to buy a raffle ticket, Boy Scout popcorn, Girl Scout cookies, attend a fund-raiser, clean out your closet for a church garage sale, run for office or work on a committee, special project, answer telephones or help park cars on Easter Sunday, please try to see yourself as an investor and whatever you do as an investment in this first-class community and its future.