GRACE would like to welcome our latest staff edition, Bilingual Case Worker Valentina Fuster. People come to GRACE for different reasons, sometimes its fate, sometimes Divine intervention but in Valentina’s case…she was assigned to GRACE. Valentina was born in Irving and grew up in the Metroplex but her family’s journey started in Argentina; she says that her parents came here for a better life and that is where the idea of helping others to achieve a brighter future started to take hold. While working on her bachelors in Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington she was assigned to GRACE as part of an internship program – she immediately felt a connection to our organization. “I really enjoyed it, I felt welcome and got along with everyone…especially my supervisor Marcela,’’ Valentina said. Valentina was sad to leave once her internship was complete, but soon after her graduation in

Believe it or not the Holiday season is upon us! Fall has snuck in and before you know it turkeys will be cooking and presents will be unwrapped…so it’s important that we start preparing to help those in our community that need help the most during this time of year. Our Services department including the Community Pantry are keeping track of the things that we need and we would love your help. It’s important to get these Holiday items in but we always try to focus on the big picture here at GRACE. “One thing I would like to encourage when talking to folks about the holiday list is this…I’d rather them pick a few items to concentrate on, but we ALWAYS want to push the items that we can use all year…in other words…not just pumpkin, cranberry sauce or chicken broth,” Stacy Pacholick, GRACE Chief Programs Officer. “We always

High end fashion has arrived at both GRACEful Buys locations!GRACE retail stores GRACEful Buys are known for many things – great deals, cool clothes, and unbelievable furniture and now you can add purveyor of haute-couture! Visit either of our locations (GRACEful Buys Grapevine is located at 418 East Northwest Highway in Grapevine. GRACEful Buys Euless, 700 West Euless Boulevard) and you’ll notice a brand new section that we are so proud of…Style & GRACE Boutique which features high end fashion and accessories. Frequent GB customers are probably familiar with the name Style & GRACE; S&G was our high-end fashion boutique that closed its doors in August. We closed that location as part of a strategic move to help better serve our customers and we are now proud to announce the next evolution of our retail strategy. “We are so pleased to be able to offer our customers a one stop

Our Food Pantry inventory is low or out of many items, and we need your help! Covid has forced us to make some changes to how we operate so that our clients can still receive the great service they always have from the Pantry. Shoppers now have to make an appointment so they can still hand-select the food they know their family will enjoy – we have also limited the total number of people allowed in the store at one time as a safety precaution. For those that are ill or that choose to not wear a mask, they are welcome to receive an emergency food box in the “drive through” portion of the pantry. The GRACE Community Pantry is committed to serving our shoppers no matter what obstacles are put in front of us! Finally, we would like to extend a warm GRACE Family welcome to our new Pantry Manager,

The GRACE Gala 2020 Virtual Event is rapidly approaching and we want you to participate! This year’s Gala is going to be a truly original event. Concerns over COVID made us reconsider our traditional Gala plans, moving us into the virtual realm for our first ever online Gala. All the things you love about Gala are going to be presented in a new format. We are working with our event technology specialists Alford Media to create a Virtual Event worthy of the GRACE Gala name. Auction items are being collected and the secret Gala Boxes are being filled with tons of high quality goodies, sure to help you celebrate GRACE in style. The money we raise is going to straight back to the organization to help us build a stronger community. The funds raised will go to programs like Feed Our Kids which has gotten more popular each year, our

Donation Station (DS) is often the first volunteer experience many people have at GRACE. Church and youth groups, families, companies, and many others donate their time to receive and sort donations. The heart of DS is truly its volunteers. We’ve been extraordinarily busy at Donation Station (DS)… with people at home—working or quarantining—lots of closets, attics, and garages are getting cleaned. There is a lot of work to be done so we are making one of our favorite incentives available to potential DS helpers. During certain times of the year, and depending on the type of volunteer work needed, GRACE offers double hours those completing volunteer service. That means that volunteers will receive credit for two hours of service for every one hour completed. As you may have noticed throughout this year, the GRACE Donation Station has had to close intermittently to catch up on sorting donations. This is due to

Reliable transportation makes a huge impact on a person’s ability to live. Jumping in the car and being able to go to work, take the kids to school, visit the doctor, or even go to the store is something that is often taken for granted. If the ability to drive is taken away, or not even available to begin with, an avalanche of problems are created that are nearly impossible to dig out of. GRACE is proud to announce that the final two donated cars in our possession have been given to very deserving members of our Transitional Housing program. The vast majority of GRACE clients are termed the “working poor”. Their wages cover most of their essentials, and for the most part their vehicles get them around. But, unlike the rest of us who can roll our cars into a repair shop when something goes wrong, to our clients

GRACE is honored to welcome Nick Carissimi as the new Marketing and Communications Manager. He has quickly taken his place on staff as a leader and guide on the arts and creativity. As with most true artists, Nick suffered early in his career. He survived four years at a small technological college clinging to the edge of a high plains plateau on the Llano Estacado in a gritty West Texas town best known as home to the Lubbock Cotton Kings of the non-defunct Western Professional Hockey League. Still, he would not let this indignity keep him down. He knew his great-grandfather didn’t flee fascist Italy so his grandson could be stuck reporting on dust storms his entire career. Nick joined Entercom Radio in 2008 and worked as a broadcaster, generated live programming, newscasts, and paid programming for the largest radio newsroom in the region, working with well-known local luminaries like

GRACE is looking to grow our family! If you or someone you love is looking to utilize their skill set to advance the GRACE mission, there are several open positions to meet the growing needs of our clients. Bilingual Administrative Assistant/Client Services Coordinator Duties include but are not limited to: Answering incoming phone calls, screening program inquiries & answering basic program services questions; Handles initial steps in assisting clients during intake; Maintains client files & purges as policies indicate; Prepare documents, schedule meetings and assist in registering participants in support of Client Services special events; Work with manager to review outcomes & evaluations for Client Services department and assist in data integrity maintenance, proofing & thorough client dashboard reviews; Review check requests in preparation for approval & maintain spreadsheets that track program expenditures; Collect/process invoices for program; Collect, sort & distribute mail; Administrative support to all departments; Work with Operations

The results are in, and we are – yet again – stunned by your generosity.  The 154 donations made by you, the GRACE Family, smashed our projected goal yet again and we couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you for making time in your busy day to log onto the North Texas Giving Day website and make a gift, or to visit one of the many North Texas Giving Day events throughout the region and make your voice heard. “As a staff member here at GRACE, it’s always an overwhelming honor to witness the generous outpouring of support from our community towards the GRACE Mission. In a year where we all have faced the unprecedented, events like North Texas Giving Day serve as an encouraging reminder of just how large our GRACE Family truly is,” Kristina Davis, GRACE Grant Writer. GRACE joins dozens of other agencies in thanking all of the