Our online retail store GRACEful-e is celebrating its first year of business! The store lives on eBay and serves as our organization’s first venture into digital commerce, allowing us to spread our sales footprint across the globe. The site is run by our Internet Sales Manager Dorcas Holloway. “We started off with only 300 items and we’ve grown now to over 1,400 items,” said Dorcas. “It’s full of cool and unique items – I love it.” Our eBay store is full of fun and unique items ranging from collectibles to truly one of a kind vintage items. “The range is what makes it so special in my opinion,” Dorcas added. “We just sold a vintage Armani suit but we have cool watches, KISS collectable items, expensive handbags, games, books, china patterns and crystal, we even have a vintage shovel…I could go on and on!” Dorcas started her work with another

Our annual Gala is the single largest fundraising event for GRACE and revenues from the event are used to fund the many programs and services offered to GRACE clients throughout the year. This year we are proud to announce that the Gala will return to the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas., November 6th. This year’s Gala is co-chaired by General Manager of Community Impact Newspaper and GRACE board member Ana Erwin and Jessica Cruz owner of the Texas General Store and planning has begun! We have a fierce and dedicated Gala committee that helps solicit funding and we are in need of volunteers to join this amazing group! If you’re interested, join us for a Gala Meeting here at GRACE headquarters (837 E Walnut St. in Grapevine) April 21st at 3pm. We can’t make Gala happen without you so join us on this amazing journey! For details please contact

Donor Spotlight: The Avondale Group We are so encouraged by the outpouring of support for the GRACE mission these past few weeks. In addition to numerous volunteers reaching out to come and assist across all service areas, we’ve had some wonderful donors show support with financial gifts. On March 31, the entire The Avondale Group team arrived at the GRACE pantry parking lot with a massive amount of food delivered inside a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. The Mercedes Sprinter was accompanied by a Porsche, Mercedes- Benz and an Aston-Martin. It was a sight to see. The Avondale Group, located at 1300 Texan Trail, Grapevine, continues to offer the best, most luxurious vehicles from around the world. Owner Neil Grossman was joined by General Managers Jordan Mizrach, Zachary Gilbert, and Avondale Marketing Director Dave Evans. The entire truckload of food was promptly unloaded, sorted and distributed in our pantry store to serve

The free income tax service VITA is continuing until June 15 so if you still need help filing your taxes make an appointment today. This amazing program has given local families over $324,000 in tax refunds and over $90,000 in Child Tax Credits this year alone. These amazing returns and help with the often confusing world of taxes can be a huge blessing for families. Last year’s taxes can also be completed so if you didn’t file last year, this is a great opportunity to get both last years and this years completed by professionals who know how to maximize your returns! This year marks the 11th anniversary of the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. GRACE has partnered with the City of Fort Worth and United Way of Tarrant County to provide free tax preparation to individuals and families who qualify for this program. This year VITA is targeting

Save the date for GRACE’s top-notch gaming extravaganza, the 2021 GRACE Poker Tournament! This annual event raises funds for our life-changing programs. Park Place Jaguar Land Rover DFW is eager to host our 2021 GRACE Poker Tournament at their cutting edge facility Saturday, May 22nd, 2021. This year’s prize package includes a trip to Las Vegas provided by the Travel Purveyor with miles through American Airlines. The event wouldn’t be complete without a superb selection of wine, beverages, and food courtesy of Scratch Kitchen Southlake and Classic Wine Southlake! Buy-In is $1,000 with limited seats available. Sponsorships start at $2,500. You may secure your seat at the table by contacting Events@GRACEGrapevine.org. This is the first in person event GRACE is hosting since all our lives were changed by the pandemic. Although we are excited to see you all there, there will be protocols in place to ensure a safe, fun,

We are grateful and honored to announce that Cotton Patch Café has donated $10,000 that we will use to help our community. GRACE was chosen as one of four organizations to receive funds as part of Cotton Patch Café’s social initiative Community, Love, and Leadership. Cotton Patch Café’s past HR Generalist Katrice Richardson stated, “Last year corporate decided to give back to the community with a sizeable donation to four deserving organizations. The Café Leader in Grapevine actually nominated GRACE,” Katrice said. Kimberly Martin, Grapevine’s Café Leader, was the person who originally nominated GRACE. “I have personally seen the impact GRACE has on our community. They make a difference and you can tell. Thank you for all that you do here locally.” “Cotton Patch Cafe is proud to continue our support of the local communities we serve through this donation to GRACE Grapevine,” Mazen Albatarseh, the CEO of Cotton Patch

Ravan is an integral piece of our Transitional Housing Program, which works with homeless individuals and families to help move them towards independence. TH clients participate in intensive case management to assist them in achieving educational, career, and financial goals while living in clean, stable housing. All activities are aimed at self-determination and eventual self-sufficiency. Ms. Anderson is our boots on the ground, working every day to make sure our residents have the tools they need to live a better life. “This is a humbling and rewarding job…knowing that I’m in a position to help someone every day to become self-sufficient is rewarding in itself,” Ravan said. “But this program isn’t easy… there’s a difference between hearing about this program and this process and then actually being a part of it… So for me it’s all about building that relationship of trust. I set the goals for everyone upfront and

National Volunteer week doesn’t start until April 18th but we’ve got a great Volunteer Appreciation Event planned and we want you to get registered! We rely on our volunteers each day we operate at GRACE, but there is one week a year that we are able to show small gestures of how much they matter to the organization. National Volunteer Week starts on April 18th, and we are going to have a number of celebrations highlighting our amazing volunteer family but our main event is the GRACE Virtual Volunteer Vacation, our annual event dedicated to volunteers. If you have volunteered with GRACE in any capacity or just want to take part in celebrating them, we hope you’ll join us on April 23rd at 3pm for our Zoom presentation. We have fun awards, prizes, and other surprises that we are sure you’ll love. GRACE Volunteers have been boldly answering our call

Your generosity during our annual “24 Hours of GRACE” was astounding. Thank you so very much for making our campaign a great success. THANK YOU! Your gifts and pledges help energize the GRACE mission and strengthen our programs and services. GRACE is truly blessed to have such generous and forward-looking friends. Few agencies help as many people in as many different ways as GRACE. Yet, the GRACE mission is only a channel through which your generosity reaches those in need. Your support provides stability, and strengthens GRACE’s ability to serve the needs of our clients and their families. GRACE is honored, humbled, and fortunate to play a small role in ensuring your donations are used efficiently and effectively to address the needs in the communities we serve. Because of your generosity, hundreds of families will return to stable financial footing and continue their journey to self-sufficiency. Eighty donors stepped forward

The GRACE Family is proud to introduce our new Transitional Housing Manager, Martisha Smith! Martisha is responsible for the overall well-being and success of our Transitional Housing families – making sure their needs are met, whether it’s case management, mentoring…any resource necessary to help our families gain self-sufficiency. “I spend my time with the clients. Working toward what the client wants and working on the things that we think will be beneficial to them,” said Martisha. “Everything comes from them and everything we do goes back to them.” Originally from East Texas Martisha grew up knowing that she wanted to help others. After receiving a degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington she began her career which has largely focused on helping kids. After working as a social worker she returned to school and got her teaching certificate and worked as a teacher for many years,