GRACE has been incredibly fortunate this year to receive overwhelming Back to School support from local churches and groups! The most pressing need in our current Clothing Room inventory is new and gently-used shoes for elementary-aged children. As all parents know, children practically live in their sneakers, and shoes are an essential apparel item that a student can utilize most of the year. Here are some ideas to meet the needs of our children for the schoolyear: WALK IN THEIR SHOES The new schoolyear is a great learning opportunity to talk to your children about their peers whose families might be struggling to make ends meet. If you’re shopping for a new pair of shoes for your children, consider purchasing an extra pair that could go to another child who is the same age. While you’re scouting out the latest sales, please be watchful of shoe sales, since this is

Living Magazine readers were given the chance to recognize local businesses that brought out the best in the community, and we are honored to have been selected for the “Best of” in 2016 for Best Resale Shop! GRACEful Buys Euless has already made a splash since its Grand Opening last October, with some of the best-kept secrets for furniture deals, clothing items and more. Customers at both locations are so happy with their purchase, that customers are often eager to share their DIY transformations proudly displayed in their homes. Take a look at Lisa’s $15 find at GRACEful Buys in Grapevine. Some sanding, filler, and primer restored this dull cabinet into a high-end credenza. Before & After As excited as we get to receive accolades and comments from happy customers who have discovered our stores, we are ever grateful to the community for their patronage to our shops and generosity

GRACE is proud to partner with Gateway Church for Feed Our Kids! Congregants from various campuses in different cities gathered at the Outreach Center, GRACE’s most populated Feed Our Kids site, to show God’s love in the way of hot dogs, pizza and hamburgers. Everyone likes a good hot dog now and again, but these weren’t your run-of-the-mill lunches. Gateway went all out and served gourmet-style hot dogs that spanned a foot long, complete with fresh-baked artisan buns from Fuddruckers. Other meals included New York Style pizza and prime beef patty burgers on scratch-made sesame buns. Amazing, still, is that the team managed to serve over 1,000 of these meals this week! The Outreach Center has reached record-breaking needs, serving as many as 300 meals in one day. Kam Hunt, a Local Outreach Pastor at Gateway Church, managed logistics with food, supplies, volunteers and (of course) the lunch music playlist. Hunt talked

A visit to the First United Methodist Church’s gym last week might have given you the impression that its members were preparing a picnic for the entire city. Dozens of congregations gathered to assemble sack lunches, pen encouraging notes and ready the crafting supplies for another week of Feed Our Kids, GRACE’s summer lunch program. “Serving lunches at all six sites for the entire week is no easy task,” says GRACE Seasonal Programs Coordinator Lori Stevens, “the members of First United Methodist Church in Grapevine takes on this logistical feat with joy and zeal. It’s nothing short of amazing.” At week’s end, the group served lunches to 3,244 children. To give you perspective on that amount, you could line a sack lunch from end to end and make your way around the entire Grapevine High School track. Twice. A special thanks to the First United Methodist Church in Grapevine for

As the only Community Clinic in the immediate area GRACE is committed to providing holistic, preventative care that helps families overcome financial and physical hardship. Your investment in GRACE programs spurs exciting changes for families in our community, including the 835 individuals who consider the GRACE Community Clinic their medical home. FAMILIES ARE MAKING NOTICEABLE CHANGES Thanks to our partnership with the Grapevine REC and the H.E.R.O (Helping Everyone Enjoy Recreational Opportunities) program, clients who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate due to financial hardship are making tangible progress. Patients are challenged to reach a benchmark of a 10% health progress rate each quarter. Nearly three-fourths of our diabetes patients were able to decrease their hemoglobin A1C levels and reach their goal. More than half also increased their blood pressure to the target range, and nearly half decreased their BMI by at least 10%. LIVES ARE BEING CHANGED The Community Clinic was

GRACE’s longtime Executive Director was recognized among Society Life magazine’s Top 10 Most Successful, Influential and Beautiful Women in Northeast Tarrant County. Society Life readers were asked to nominate women whose admirable characteristics compelled them to invest in their community, donate their resources and inspire others to achieve great things. A dynamic mentality and compassionate spirit is often a delicate balance for a leader, and Shonda embodies both with poise and clarity. It’s not difficult for members of the community to see what her staff already know of her: her deep commitment to families in need, and genuine appreciation for all who work alongside her. “When I heard that Shonda had been nominated for this wonderful honor, I was so incredibly proud of her and for her.  I have worked with a number of executives in my career and Shonda is by far one of the best. She is extremely intelligent and

Our sorting facility Donation Station will be extending operating hours from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. effective Monday, July 25. The additional operating hour will make it easier for the community to drop off their items after work. The decision is also a safety measure to prevent donation theft from items left in the evening. Donation Station houses donated goods such as clothing, housewares, linens, toys and books given by the community to provide assistance to those in the midst of job loss, illness or other emergency. Your item donation gives hope when families wonder how they’ll be able to afford back-to-school clothes, work boots or interview attire. The items also supply our Transitional Housing program with goods on hand for those seeking shelter. Many donations are funneled into our resale operations, which generate revenue to continue GRACE programming. The multitudes of items we receive require stewardship, strategy, and elbow grease to

When it comes to the dinner menu for the GRACE Gala on October 22, guests can expect a delectable cuisine with a European flair. The four-course meal is provided by the aptly-named, Savor, the venue’s in-house catering company. As GRACE’s largest fund raising event of the year proceeds from the Gala allow GRACE to give hope to families facing crisis. The 2016 GRACE Gala will take place on Saturday, October 22 at the Irving Convention Center. Sponsorships range from $2,000 to $20,000. Individual tickets are $325, and a table of ten is $3,000. Auction item sponsorships are also available. For details how your business can be showcased at the GRACE Gala as an event or auction sponsor, visit GRACEGala.org. View the 2016 menu below

The heart of our nation broke after the recent attack on Dallas police force left the families of five fallen police officers without a father or husband. In show of solidarity and support, GRACE staff, volunteers and members of the community were invited to participate in an impromptu prayer circle in front of the Grapevine Police Department last Friday. The prayer walk began at the 200 block on Nash Street and ended at the entrance of the Grapevine Police Department. Cards of encouragement and condolences were placed near the entrance, along with blue roses. The Grapevine Police Department has long been strong allies with GRACE to protect our families from high-risk situations over the years. The department’s close proximity to our Transitional Housing program not only gives the residents and enhanced sense of safety, the police officers have made it their priority to get to know these families on a