There will be laughter and music in the distance. Cart drivers and passengers will share hearty greetings in the dark as they pass. The whir of electric motors will carry players from one shot to another. And the clink of club against ball will send the glowing orb on another trip into the darkness. Then there’s always that one Whooping Crane who loudly objects to all the hubbub from high in its nest above Number 5 on Pecan. The annual Drive Into the Night event benefiting GRACE programs for children is scheduled for Friday, April 21. Check-In starts at 5:30 p.m. with the Putting Contest getting underway at 6 p.m. For the eighth year in a row seventy golf carts will flow onto the grounds of the Grapevine Golf Course at dusk, braving turns and hills in the fading light, directed only by the shimmer of glo-sticks and LED flashlights.

Katrina Keith’s Molly Maid home-cleaning franchise has generated more than $8,000 to support GRACE services since 2010. Katrina’s staff donates 10 cents from each home cleaning to GRACE. And every year, the donation increases as her business grows in the D-FW area. Katrina visited GRACE this week with clothing and household goods for GRACE Donation Station, and a contribution of $2,542.10 for GRACE Transitional Housing—that’s 25,421 home cleanings! Katrina’s service is modeled on providing professional cleaning, and specializing in residential settings where the standards are naturally high. Molly Maid housekeepers guarantee home owners’ satisfaction, and accommodate all personal cleaning preferences. The aim for every home is to create a cleaning plan that respects and saves homeowners’ time, and keeps their homes just the way they like it. Supporting local charitable causes is part of the Molly Maid philosophy, as well. The Ms. Molly Foundation was established in 1996 to support

What a way to kick off the year: Channel your inner “Happy Days,” “American Graffiti,” and “Grease” for a night of gaming with your best gal or guy! The fourth annual CBI Brotherhood casino night is set for Saturday, January 14, at the Good Shepherd Parish Hall, 1000 Tinker Road in Colleyville. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Leather jackets, sunglasses and pompadours. Poodle skirts, pony tails and saddle shoes. Get ready for some “Fun from the Fifties” with the best charity casino action around! Even if you don’t know one end of a craps table from another, the Congregation Beth Israel dealers will help with any questions you might have. You’ll be ready for Vegas when the night is done! The highlight of the evening will be the raffle drawing with extraordinary prizes! Already on the block is a weekend rental from Park Place Lexus—Park Place will also detail

We call it “dining” for a reason. The elegance. The polite waitstaff. The tablecloths. Cloth napkins, not paper flicked up like tissues through a slot in the box. Every other night you can gather in dinner through your driver’s side window, but one night you deserve to “dine”. 360 West magazine’s Winter Restaurant Week, January 9-15, is the perfect time to pamper yourself with the offerings of the most elite restaurants in Tarrant County, while supporting a mission that helps people in need. Twenty-two fine dining establishments are offering delicious three-course prix fixe dinners for $29, $39 or $49. Guests who visit participating restaurants during the promotion will have a portion of their dinner purchase donated to one of the three charities selected by the restaurant. Restaurants donate proceeds of $5, $6 or $7 per dinner to one of three local charities, the Fort Worth Dream Park, the Tarrant Area

  The Fall Season at GRACE was marked with great successes, including a wonderful GRACE Gala in October, terrific increases in sales at GRACEful Buys and Style & GRACE, cherished Thanksgiving and Christmas meal baskets given through at the GRACE Food Pantry, a merry holiday season at GRACE Christmas Cottage, and many other beneficial activities and events. Every season has a most valuable player, and the Fall Season was championed by Teresa Williamson, GRACE director of finance and operations. Teresa received the Fourth Quarter MVP Award at the January GRACE Staff meeting this week. All the more impressive, Teresa achieved her MVP status before reaching her first anniversary with GRACE. Teresa started with GRACE in late-January 2016, but in the words of GRACE Human Resources Director Melissa Simpkins, “that hasn’t stopped [her] from figuring out how to do just about everything.” “Not knowing, or not having an answer is just

For many who come to GRACE for help, it all begins with Client Services, and a talk with Client Services manager Marcy Melendez, or one of the case managers in her office. The outcome of this talk is a thorough needs assessment and a customized assistance plan for every client and client family. The assistance plan is designed to lead clients back to self-sufficiency—solving the current crisis, and devising ways to avert future crises. The client and case manager revisit the plan each time a client returns to GRACE, and adjustments are made throughout the year as progress is made. The first of the year is a perfect time to “take stock” said Marcy. For the next few weeks she and her staff will visit with clients on their caseloads, reassess their needs, and revise assistance plans for the coming year. For many clients, it is a time for celebration.

No single article can tell fully the impact of GRACE in our community this year. But this year, as every year, the conclusion is the same: YOU are GRACE and it’s your support that drives the GRACE mission forward. Except for the GRACE News, so much has happened at GRACE in 2016 that all other sources can only touch on the highlights of another wonderful year serving the community through the GRACE mission. The GRACE Feed Our Kids program served 36,574 meals and the GRACE Grocery Giveaway served an additional 3,195 people (690 families) during the Summer of 2016. The GRACE Client Choice Food Pantry provided nutritious food to 7,702 people, while gardening volunteers harvested 3,154 pounds of fresh produce for them. The GRACE Outreach to Health Community Clinic provided healthcare and life-sustaining health education to 3,183 patients who otherwise would have had no other access to care outside of

GRACE Food Pantry manager Rusty Thigpen reported Christmas meal baskets were furnished to 313 families over the two-day distribution last week. That number, added to the November Thanksgiving meal baskets that went to 424 families, and holiday feasts were provided to a total of 737 families this year. In addition, Food Pantry volunteers delivered 96 baskets to the homes of seniors last week, and 94 baskets went out at Thanksgiving, for a total 190 families. In all, 927 families received holiday feasts through the Food Pantry this season, nearly matching the total from the 2015 distribution of 932. With the tracking system now used at the Food Pantry, Rusty and his Pantry volunteers knew almost exactly what to expect this year. “This year is on par with our three-year average of 926 per year,” said Rusty. Current tracking encompasses the years of 2014, 2015 and 2016. Before that, baskets provided

There are only so many hours left in 2016! And GRACE Donation Station will be open for many of those hours so you can drop off your donations and receive a tax benefit. Donation Station manager Kathy Mize believes today is really the ideal time! Donating your gently used clothing and household goods “now rather than tomorrow will help you to beat the rush and the long lines we anticipate,” said Kathy. Donation Station will be open until 6 p.m. this (Friday, December 30) afternoon; and open all day (Saturday, December 31) tomorrow, 8:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Donation Station is at 112 North Scribner Street in Grapevine—just turn at Old West Café and it’s right there! Kathy asks that you please package the items you are donating in disposable containers like trash bags or cardboard boxes. This will help volunteers unload quickly and begin sorting. “The end of the

Since its initial cultivation over 7 years ago, the GRACE Community Garden has grown an average of 3,000 pounds of fresh produce each year. Led by Becca Clarke, Caryn Hutchinson and Alison Shumaker, Garden volunteers tend the beds to bring harvests of tomatoes, potatoes, okra, peppers, corn, strawberries, tomatillos, and other bounty. Volunteering at the Community Garden is a healthy and rewarding way to provide wholesome nourishment for families in need. Volunteers are needed to assist in clean up, preparation, planting and tilling to ensure another fruitful season. “We need about fifteen people for some crucial dates coming up,” said Caryn, a certified Texas Master Gardener. Volunteers are needed on Saturdays, January 7 and January 21, to help clean up and prepare the beds for planting. “Depending on the weather, we’ll start around noon and work until we’re done,” said Caryn. The long-range forecast for Saturday, January 7 calls for