Not only did the members of Compass Christian Church respond to a local senior’s need, they carried a simple project beyond anything the grateful homeowner could have expected. The original project was to repaint the trim of the senior’s home, but when the families saw the additional work that needed to be done, they were compelled to take action. The families replaced a portion of the fence, removed dry rot and repaired a cedar beam inside the senior’s home. The homeowner also had cumbersome overgrowth in her lawn, as well as hazardous poison ivy that she had been physically unable to tackle. According to Compass Church member Melissa Zihlman, it became important to make the space more than livable; they wanted it to be a home the senior could take pride in. “It was a two month project, but knowing that our neighbor benefited from our work was worth it,”

Our friends at Fort Worth’s Foodie Philanthropy  has given us the opportunity to be the charity beneficiary for their 2018 event. Foodie Philanthropy is a one-of-a-kind evening centered on good eats, good times and good causes. Fort Worth’s finest restaurants host hundreds of local guests for a fine-dining experience that supports the selected charity (hopefully GRACE!) Last year the event raised over $31,000 for charity, and your daily vote will help secure us as the 2018 beneficiary! After selecting GRACE on the bottom of the left row, be sure to scroll down to hit submit. Remember to vote daily and share with your friends! VOTE HERE

Texas temperatures can heat a parked car up to 115 degrees without an air conditioner on. In the same way, a small home or apartment with no air conditioning can quickly preserve unbearable and unsafe temperatures. When a client comes to GRACE with mounting or unpaid utility bills, Client Services works with the families through assistance, accountability and budgeting. Thanks to TXU’s generosity, when a client comes to GRACE with a high TXU bill, Client Services is able to take care of a part (and sometimes even the whole) bill, freeing up families’ funds for other urgent expenditures. The Low Income Energy Efficiency Assistance Program began at GRACE in 2003. In it, TXU granted funds for solar attic vents, window A/C units, ceiling fans, CFL light bulbs and more. For those who are not TXU customers, their needs are assessed on a one-on-one basis and GRACE caseworkers determine which energy

Last week we had the privilege of handing keys to a grateful Transitional Housing client on her 65th birthday. White’s Chapel Church joined us to welcome *Karen to her newly-remodeled apartment and finally call it home. While *Karen’s new chapter is just beginning, her response to last week’s blessings has already given us some important things to reflect on as a community. Here are two things we encourage you to consider on this week in regard to the newest member of the GRACE family. Not only can hospitality change the world, it can make a significant impact on our cities and neighborhoods When we love and serve others in the community through hospitality, we are also serving God. Hospitality is taken very seriously in the Bible. Hospitality is described as a spiritual gift for some, but it’s something that all believers should practice. When you support GRACE, you are creating

Feed Our Kids Volunteer Karla Turner has a unique bond with those who come to a particular Feed Our Kids site whose residents are most vulnerable to hunger. She and her three boys used to live there. Karla relocated to Grapevine from Detroit in the early nineties and made their home in an apartment off Mustang Drive. In addition to being a single mother, not having transportation made everyday tasks problematic. While she maintained a steady job at the Grapevine Senior Center, being the sole wage earner for a family of four meant money was tight. A friend connected her with GRACE, where Karla received utility assistance for the hot summers and cold winters, and shopped at the GRACE Food Pantry to ensure there was enough food in the cupboard. This was also a time before smart phones and search engines, and she recalls how comforting it was to have

The brotherhood at Congregation Beth Israel (CBI) collected $5,000 on behalf of local families in need. CBI is in its fourth year of partnership with GRACE as an event beneficiary for their annual casino night, which takes place at the Good Shepherd Community Hall in Colleyville. The unique event has garnered support from the entire community with exciting themes like Bond for a Night, Masquerade, and the latest theme, which transported us to a time of leather and poodle skirts in GREASE. Macs on Main always customizes a top-notch menu to live up to the preceding year, and guests purchased “chips” for play and enter to win from a vast selection of raffle prizes. The ticket proceeds, raffle sales and other purchases generated enough funds to feed 200 families for a week! A heartfelt thanks to congregants and community leaders who invested their time into making the special event and

Meet Stephen Reynolds, GRACE’s new Food Pantry Assistant. Stephen retired after 24 years in the world of academia as a mathematics teacher and tutor. He first learned about GRACE after his wife, Sharon, started working at GRACEful Buys Euless. He was so impressed by the scope of services, particularly meeting the tangible needs at the Food Pantry, that he left retirement for continued service to children and their parents. Stephen is responsible for coordinating food pickups from grocers and other partners, and of course, counting the food inventory for quick distribution. It’s important to weigh and make an account of each donation quickly so it makes it to the shelves long before the expiration date. In addition to coordinating pickups, the Food Pantry works hard to meet public health guidelines and offers maintenance support to GRACE facilities. When Stephen first arrived, he was most notably surprised by frequency of groups

If art reveals the heart, the children participating in Feed Our Kids have hearts flooded with color. The community has continued to rally together, serving 16, 715 meals thus far into the summer months. It’s a remarkable feat itself to provide this many lunches, but children also receive something less tangible to measure, and that’s mentorship, kindness and laughter. These pictures, drawn by a girl and a boy, give a glimpse of what it means to spend time with children who are not only at risk for hunger, but face summertime isolation and loneliness because of their parent’s stringent, often laborious, shifts. Yesterday, the GRACE Boardroom was nearly standing room only with children and volunteer mentors during story time. Groups that bring special games, festivities or treats make a profound impact on the summer for children who may not get to go to water parks, ride roller coasters or take