What can a burger do? P. Terry's to donate all profits Saturday to Season for Caring

Nicole Villalpando, Austin American-Statesman
·6 min read

On Saturday, the lines at the P. Terry's and Taco Ranch drive-thrus might be long. The wait inside might take a few minutes, but the profits from every purchase will go to the Statesman's Season for Caring program.

It will help folks like Naquisha Taylor, 33, a mom who has reconnected with her children after years of homelessness. And Jae Lee, 33, a man who is now in college to be a social worker after 10 years in the U.S. Army Reserve and is raising his 13-year-old daughter. And Juana Betancurt, 38, a mom of seven whose husband was deported for domestic violence. She now works two cleaning jobs to make ends meet.

Each year, Season for Caring highlights the needs of featured families but helps hundreds of other families in our community through local nonprofit organizations. Since 1999, it has raised more than $17 million.

P. Terry's Burger Stand's Erika Garibay waves to a customer after passing the person a meal during the annual P. Terry's Burger Stand's Giving Back Day for Season for Caring last year. This year, the Giving Back Day will be Saturday.
P. Terry's Burger Stand's Erika Garibay waves to a customer after passing the person a meal during the annual P. Terry's Burger Stand's Giving Back Day for Season for Caring last year. This year, the Giving Back Day will be Saturday.

P. Terry's Giving Back Day on Saturday will give all the profits at all P. Terry's Burger Stand restaurants and Taco Ranch to Season for Caring. This is the 14th year P. Terry's has dedicated its December Giving Back Day to Season for Caring.

Since 2009, the restaurant chain has donated $349,664 to Season for Caring through its Giving Back Day. It has given more than $1.49 million to local organizations through both quarterly Giving Back Days and in-kind donations.

Find out more:How to help families through the Statesman Season for Caring program

This year, P. Terry's has helped Austin-based organizations the Salvation Army Rathgeber Center for Families, Keep Austin Fed and Helping Hand Home in addition to Season for Caring during its quarterly Giving Back Days.

P. Terry's has 23 locations in the Austin area from Georgetown to San Marcos. This year it opened new locations in Kyle, in Round Rock and on Slaughter Lane and Interstate 35 in Austin. It has also continued to expand in the San Antonio area with five locations, including one in New Braunfels.

The founders, Patrick and Kathy Terry, "did an amazing job of bringing a really simple, yet differentiated concept," CEO Todd Coerver said last year when he gave Season for Caring the donation check.

That concept was all natural foods through a drive-thru at fast-food prices.

"They were visionaries," he said.

Past Giving Back Days: P. Terry's Giving Back Day raises $36,317 to help 11 local nonprofits through Season for Caring

Dane Frazier, 3, takes a bite of a quesadilla held by his father, Jeff, as his brother, Cage, 8, looks on last year during lunch at Taco Ranch on P. Terry's Giving Back Day for Season for Caring.
Dane Frazier, 3, takes a bite of a quesadilla held by his father, Jeff, as his brother, Cage, 8, looks on last year during lunch at Taco Ranch on P. Terry's Giving Back Day for Season for Caring.

Kathy Terry had the idea to give 100% of a day's profits to a nonprofit organization shortly after the Austin couple opened their first burger stand in 2005 at Barton Springs Road and South Lamar Boulevard.

One of the first checks was given to a Boys & Girls Club down the street from the P. Terry’s office, and the check was for a couple of thousand dollars. Patrick Terry remembers how the club’s representative cried when he got the check. That made a lasting impression of what a difference a Giving Back Day check could make.

“The Giving Back Day allows everyone to participate,” Kathy Terry said after a past Giving Back Day. “A little kid can buy a cookie, and he knows a portion of that is going to be going to a nonprofit. It also shows if we all participate how much we can all truly move the needle.”

Season for Caring has been chosen since 2009 because it allows people to give back to between 10 and 12 local nonprofit organizations each year.

This year, the 10 organizations Season for Caring is supporting are:

  • AGE of Central Texas, which helps older adults and their caregivers thrive as they navigate the realities and opportunities of aging and caregiving.

  • Any Baby Can, which partners with families to build stability, develop skills and unlock each child’s full potential.

  • Breast Cancer Resource Center, which empowers those affected by breast cancer with personalized support and compassion.

  • Caritas of Austin, which prevents and ends homelessness for people in Greater Austin.

  • Family Eldercare, which thoughtfully partners with older adults and people with disabilities to create stability, dignity and well-being.

  • Foundation Communities, which creates housing where families succeed.

Jae Lee and his daughter, Tiare Lee, 13, walk outside their South Austin apartment. Jae Lee was nominated to Season for Caring by Foundation Communities.
Jae Lee and his daughter, Tiare Lee, 13, walk outside their South Austin apartment. Jae Lee was nominated to Season for Caring by Foundation Communities.

  • Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, which provides access to affordable health care for Greater Austin’s low-income, working musicians, with a focus on prevention and wellness.

  • Hospice Austin, a nonprofit hospice organization that seeks to ease the physical, emotional and spiritual pain of any person in our community facing the final months of an illness.

  • Interfaith Action of Central Texas, which cultivates peace and respect through interfaith dialogue and has a refugee program and a housing repair initiative.

  • SAFE Alliance, which exists to stop abuse for everyone by serving the survivors of child abuse, sexual assault, exploitation and domestic violence.

“Season for Caring is the greatest reminder of frankly what so many of us have and what so many of us don’t have,” Patrick Terry said in 2019, when the Giving Back program had reached the $1 million mark. "You always have to be reminded. And that's what makes Saturday the most special day of the year for us.“

Every year, the Terrys read all the Season for Caring stories, sometimes twice.

“It reminds me how fortunate and lucky I am to have the resources and the access that I have that I can give back and I can make a difference,” Kathy Terry said. “But it’s also having access to these amazing stories and amazing people, to have access to their strength, their determination and grit and love and compassion and most importantly their hope. To me, sharing our stories, of our resources and of our access, that’s community.”

On Saturday, the restaurants will be well-staffed and ready to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner while doing good work in the community.

The employees love the Giving Back Days, Coerver said.

"They get up for it," he said. "They are not just serving a burger, fries and a drink. It makes them proud."

How to donate to Season for Caring

Find the daily coupon in print on Page 2B or go to statesman.com/seasonforcaring.

Now through Christmas Day, $500,000 in donations will be matched by the Sheth family.

P. Terry's Giving Back Day, with all profits going to Season for Caring, is Saturday.

The Driskill hotel's Cookies for Caring cookie tins are on sale at exploretock.com/thedriskillaustin.

To donate:Use the form below or click the link here: https://statesmansfc.kimbia.com/statesmanseasonforcaring

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: P. Terry's donating all profits on Saturday to Season for Caring