“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”
1 John 3:18
“Connection is what it is all about,” GRACE Chief Program Officer, Stacy Pacholick, explains. The focus of GRACE is connecting people in need to services and resources to help. Connections between GRACE and other organizations, volunteers, and churches make this support possible. We are incredibly appreciative for our relationships with partnering churches and organizations who share a heart for helping others as we do.
A couple of weeks ago, 121 Community Church Grapevine Local Mission Minister, Bryan Bundick, called us to discuss a situation involving a family new to the church congregation. A single mother who recently moved to our area from out-of-state was in great need. The mother had worked hard to prepare for her family’s relocation – securing a job, finding a church home, and settling her children into a new community – however, she suddenly faced the risk of losing everything.
In sincere compassion and desire to help, the church reached out to GRACE. We welcomed the young mother in for an interview and learned she was struggling with a situation in which she was asked to leave her home. Leaving the new home would threaten all that she had painstakingly worked towards in laying down roots for her family. The family’s circumstances required outside assistance, otherwise they would have no choice in parting from their home.
GRACE was able to connect the family with the necessary resources allowing them to stay in the community by settling into a place they could truly call home. She and her children no longer face the fear and uncertainty of uprooting once again from a place they love and feel safe. This most basic need is a treasure so easily taken for granted, yet when families and individuals are confronted with losing their residence, their home, the outlook can seem hopeless.
The story of this family is a prime example of how our community partnerships connect those in need with those who are able and want to help. It is our connections that ultimately assist families in overcoming the barriers that keep them from meeting their most essential needs. This is just one example of how combined assistance through GRACE and 121 Community Church came together, allowing a hardworking single mother to establish her children a home they can afford and feel good about.
What’s more, the family is now connected to other much-needed services including food, clothing, and other vital resources. “Thank you, 121 Community Church,” says Stacy Pacholick, “for your commitment to this family and to your trust in knowing that GRACE is here for people that find themselves in a difficult situation.”
