It’s been said we live in a “graceless age”. I doubt very many of us would agree. Still, we just said “goodbye” to a year that seemed to fit the term perfectly. Yet, throughout 2020 we were witness to countless acts of grace—kindness, gentleness, generosity, selflessness, humanity. It so happened these acts rarely made the headlines or lead stories. Grace is a manner of behavior. It’s a way we act, and how we treat others. It’s the self-confidence to understand, in the middle of a deafening roar of media battles and insulting arrogance, that we will only know peace when we know Him. Here, there is grace in those who rally around a cause like the GRACE mission—keeping communities strong and families safe. A “graceless age”? Not at all. If you have noticed the “Choose GRACE” signs in your neighbors’ front lawns, you have witnessed something very special: your friends

A lot of the focus at this time of the year is on our Christmas Cottage program, but you may not realize how popular our Holiday Food distribution program is. We want to make sure that anyone who needs food gets it but we also want to make sure family Holiday meals are something to remember! This year we had to adjust how we handled our Holiday food distribution but we are so glad to report that we were able to get nearly 800 Holiday meals on the tables of deserving local families. Individuals, Churches, and businesses donated 383 Thanksgiving food baskets and 401 Christmas baskets! This amazing display of generosity helps make this season so much more special for our clients and for that we are forever grateful. We love seasonal programs like this but we also have to maintain focus on our larger objectives when it comes to

The numbers speak louder than any words ever could…this was far and away our most successful Christmas Cottage since the program was founded. 2020 Christmas Cottage Numbers: 887 Families served 2042 Children served 3360 Individuals served Compared to last year, Christmas Cottage received a 30% increase in requests for help because of a few factors…some COVID related and a number of organizations with similar programs that were not able to participate this year. It doesn’t matter why the community came…they asked for our help to have a better Christmas and we were so happy to help. This phenomenal effort was no simple task. We worked hard to make sure that safety protocols were in place to help people stay healthy, our volunteers worked long hours, and staff like Heather DeMoss our Volunteer Coordinator worked nearly around the clock to ensure that everyone was able to have presents under the tree.

Everything Louie Murillo does is over-the-top, but this project has blown us away!  This past year has been a constant struggle for GRACE and our limited resources to keep up with the incredibly growing demand for basic services such as food, housing, and utility assistance. So, when December rolled around and we were notified that we were one of the few agencies that were still planning on providing Christmas to these hardworking (but suffering) families, we began to panic. Almost like a God-send, we were contacted by Louie about this crazy idea he had to raise funds for Christmas Cottage. We were excited, but still thought his initial goal of $10,000 was a little aggressive.  Over the following weeks, it became clear that Louie would NOT let this goal fail. He reached out to the media, friends, family, and social media to gain momentum and funds. Very quickly the “aggressive”goal was

Christmas Cottage is having its most popular year ever! This is one of our favorite programs because it has such an impact on the well-being of an entire family. Kids and teens get great Christmas gifts but the parents also get gifts like microwaves, vacuums, and cookware sets that will benefit the entire household for years to come. So far we have served gifts to 625 different households and over 2,500 individuals …with only 4 days left before we close our doors until next season we are on track to smash last year’s record number of participants. We have found a few different factors for the success and unprecedented amount of need this year…with COVID obviously playing a huge part in this. A lot of other organizations in the area with similar programs greatly reduced how they were helping people. Some are not participating at all. This lack of involvement

Longtime supporter, Board member, and GRACE family member Randy White of Randy White Real Estate Services held a toy drive benefitting Christmas Cottage and we couldn’t be more thankful! Active as a GRACE Board member for the past two years, but his journey with GRACE started well before that. Randy, his family, agents and staff of RWRES have volunteered since 2009, spending time handing out meals during Feed our Kids and making sure that families have a very merry Holiday with Christmas Cottage…everyone mentioned loves to give back to the community in which they work and live.  Mr. White feels community involvement is a priority for the Randy White Real Estate Services team and is blessed to be involved. He was delighted to host this year’s Toy Drive! “Giving back to the community and this organization is something that we believe in deeply,” said Randy. “I’m so proud to be

Organized by Mission Central, this fun event is happening tomorrow, December 19th and starts at 11:00 am. It’s a great way to help GRACEful Buys Euless and other local stores, not to mention a great way to finish up that last minute Christmas shopping. Here’s how it works… “Join us as we partner with some awesome local nonprofits for our Holiday Thrift Crawl 2020! Four nonprofit thrift stores will participate in the crawl on December 19th. Grab your passport at any participating location. Visit all four thrift stores on Saturday, December 19th to get your passport stamped. Turn in your completely stamped passport, and get entered to win one of four thrifty prize baskets! Be sure and write your name, email, and phone number on the back of your passport.” The Coat of Many Colors, Dapper Inc., and the Mission Central Thrift Store are also participating in this shopping adventure.

Louie Murillo, owner of the Grapevine Santa House approached GRACE a few weeks ago and said he wanted to do a fundraiser for us…his small Christmas idea has now snowballed into a massive fundraising event receiving national media attention. The original goal was to use his unbelievable Xmas decoration skills to help raise money for our Christmas Cottage which provides gifts to hundreds of local families. Since the project has been announced he has blown past every goal that he set for Grapevine Santa House. Now at over $15,000 raised we are starting to see big money donations from local businesses. TXU, Paycom, Pegasus Logistics Group, and Sam Pack’s Five-Star Subaru of Grapevine have made MASSIVE contributions to this effort, not to mention the donations that the Murillo family are making personally. This whole project is a wonderful example of the Holiday spirit and the power that one person has