We are thrilled to invite you to our upcoming GRACE Gifting Party, a special prelude to the GRACE “angels among us” Gala. Mark your calendars for an exciting evening on Wednesday, August 28th, from 6pm to 8pm at the Crush It! Sports Lounge in Grapevine. Invite friends, family and neighbors! Share this opportunity with local businesses! The gifting party promises to be a fun-filled evening of networking, and family fun with delicious food, engaging games, and a wonderful opportunity to help further the mission of GRACE in our community.

GRACE is asking all attendees to bring an item valued at $100 or more for our GRACE Gala auction as a ticket of admission to the Gifting Party. We encourage everyone to bring their best items that evening, contributing to the large assortment of auction items for our silent and live auctions. Our auction catalog is known for showcasing a variety of unique or experience-based items such as vacation trips, hotel stays, gift certificates, and so much more! Your generous contributions will help GRACE raise funds to support the community of Grapevine and the surrounding areas.

Need some ideas for what to donate to the Gifting Party event? Over the years, many supporters have brought themed baskets, event tickets, golf packages, gift cards, wine, whiskey donations and more. This year, GRACE is excited to be collaborating with Classic Wine to assist in gathering wonderful wines for our 2024 GRACE Gala Auction! Classic has hand selected a few of their favorite wines and is offering them to purchase as your items to donate and entry to the Gifting Party.

If you would like to have wine be your donation to entry for the GRACE Gifting Party, Go to https://shop.classicwine.com/shop/grace-gifting-party and make your purchase! To purchase wine for the Gifting Party on August 28th, please place your order by MONDAY, AUGUST 19th. Classic Wine is generously offering complimentary delivery of the wine to the Gifting Party for attendees, but please do not worry if you don’t make that deadline, as Classic will take any wines ordered after August 19 and will deliver them to GRACE directly as a donation!

We hope you, your friends and your family join us on August 28th at Crush It! Sports Lounge. The venue is located at 401 W State Hwy 114, Grapevine, TX 76051. Crush It! Sports Lounge is DFW’s first interactive sports and social lounge and is excited to host the GRACE Gala Gifting Party. They have been a longstanding and active supporter of GRACE and a partner of the GRACE Gala!

GRACE is so appreciative to everyone who supports the mission of GRACE, and we are excited for this year’s Gala! We look forward to seeing you at the GRACE Gala Gifting Party on August 28th! Please RSVP your attendance HERE.

For questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Erica Baker at ebaker@GRACEGrapevine.org

You may remember learning about our Take One, Leave One— or “TOLO” — boxes last December. These big blue boxes, stationed at three GRACE locations, are one of the ways in which GRACE combats food insecurity in our community. The TOLO boxes offer individuals and families immediate access to food outside of GRACE Food Pantry operating hours.

Since their introduction, we’ve had businesses, families, and community groups adopt these boxes. Each group has done an amazing job maintaining the TOLO boxes, keeping them well stocked and cared for, and ensuring they remain viable resources for our community!

As we head into the heart of summer, we’re looking for volunteers to adopt these boxes!

What does adopting a TOLO Box entail? Here’s what to expect:

• These TOLO boxes are entirely volunteer-driven
• Individuals, groups, or businesses can ‘adopt’ a box for a one month period*
• The adopting group will keep the box stocked and maintained, checking on the box at least once a week

These TOLO boxes are the perfect opportunity for volunteers to curate a giving back experience that is unique to them. And with school right around the corner, these boxes present the perfect opportunity for students to earn volunteer hours in a way that accommodates their busy schedules!

If you are looking to adopt, we have availability at all sites starting in August. Please reach out to the GRACE Volunteer Coordinator at Volunteer@GRACEgrapevine.org for more information or to fill out an application and get started!

*Timeline flexible— reach out to Volunteer@GRACEgrapevine.org to coordinate/ for more details.

GRACE is thrilled to announce Laura Harris, Co-Anchor of NBC 5 Today will be emceeing the GRACE Gala for the 6th consecutive year. Laura Harris is a 3-time Emmy Award and Associated Press award-winning journalist who joined the NBC 5 team in September 2018. She can be seen co-anchoring NBC 5 Today weekday mornings from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Some highlights of Laura’s career at NBC 5 include covering the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 and currently, at the 2024 Olympics in Paris!

Laura is no stranger to serving the community. She helped start the childhood literacy initiative at NBC 5 Reading With You. It’s an innovative program encouraging elementary-aged children to read at least one book a week throughout the summer to help combat summer learning loss, often referred to as the “summer slide.”

She came to Dallas-Fort Worth from the ABC affiliate in Tampa, Florida. Some highlights of Laura’s career at ABC Action News included covering President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba in 2016 and covering the Tampa Bay Rays while they played the Cuban National Team in Havana. She also covered Pope Francis’ historic visit to Cuba in 2015.

On the political side, Laura covered both the Republican National Convention from Cleveland, Ohio, as well as the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016 .Before moving to Tampa; Laura was a morning anchor at the ABC affiliate in Charleston, South Carolina.

Laura is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., honorary co-chair for the 2024 Literacy Achieves Wings of Spring Gala and a board member for New Friends New Life.

She and her husband Patrick, who is on the Board of Governors for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, call Dallas home.

GRACE is truly honored and blessed to be able to announce Laura’s continued support and participation in the 21st Annual Gala that will be held on Saturday, November 2nd at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas.

Tables and Tickets sales for the GRACE Gala will open to the public on August 1st and can be purchased at GRACEgala.com. Sponsorships are currently available. For more information, contact Mark Woolverton, GRACE Chief Development Officer, at mwoolverton@gracegrapevine.org.

It’s official! Staff and Committee Members are gearing up for the 21st annual GRACE Gala on Saturday, November 2nd! The GRACE Gala— now back home in Grapevine— is one of our largest annual fundraisers. The proceeds from this event fund our programs and services for the families and individuals who come to GRACE seeking assistance.

We may still be months away, but work has already begun and we’ll need your help! This year, we’re looking for volunteers to help with:

• Loading up and move in
• Set up and decorating
• Check in and Registration
• Main lobby greeters
• Photographer assistant
• Selfie booth photographers
• Raffle sales
• Check out
• Ticket distribution
• Tear down and load up

The GRACE Gala is an inspiring and unforgettable event. Volunteers play a huge role in making this possible— and we want you to be a part of it!

As we get closer to the event, an online registration form will be made available for you to sign up. In the meantime, please reach out to the GRACE Volunteer Coordinator at Volunteer@GRACEGrapevine.org and let us know you’re interested!

Among the crates and pallets in the GRACE Food Pantry Warehouse is a small plaque dedicating the space to Rusty Thigpen.

For nearly 20 years Rusty ran the Food Pantry and guided its growth from a ragtag collection of cans and boxes to the hugely beneficial Hunger Services program it anchors today.

The Savior called for Rusty on June 14, and he met Jesus in his home surrounded by family and friends.

We are gathering from 4-6 p.m. on Monday, July 29, here at 837 East Walnut Street in Grapevine to celebrate Rusty’s life and his calling to feed the hungry. His daughter, Tami, will join us in remembering her father and his unique way with others.

For those who visited the Food Pantry more than 110,000 times over his tenure, Rusty was the kind gentleman who helped feed their families, gave them diapers and formula for their babies, provided hygiene and cleaning supplies for their homes, and even fed their pets.

Rusty was part shyness, part humility, and, of course, part curmudgeon, and he was loved for all these parts of his personality that combined formed a man who was loved by many.

GRACE Chief Program Officer Stacy Pacholick said it best, “He connected with so many people who respected and loved him.”

The number of co-workers, volunteers, local grocers, discount store managers, and other suppliers who called Rusty their friend is massive. For many at the Tarrant Area Food Bank, church pantries, soup kitchens, and other social service agencies, Rusty was the face of GRACE.

Rusty’s integrity earned him the loyalty of his volunteers, many of whom worked alongside him for most of his time at GRACE. To this day, Pantry volunteers are some of the longest serving among all GRACE volunteers.

Rusty was a staunch hunger fighter, and some of the programs that evolved under his watch became hallmark feeding programs for GRACE, and models for other social service agencies to replicate.

Rebecca Cox, GRACE Chief Executive Officer, recalled it was because of Rusty the Food Pantry can now boast of being one of very few “Self Select” pantries in the region. “I never had the privilege of meeting Rusty, but I can see him clearly throughout our programs every day. “When Rusty started we were just like other food banks,” said Rebecca. “Clients would come and get their boxes full of groceries. The same groceries for everyone.”

Rusty changed all that by creating a pantry modeled after a grocery store. “Our clients can now select the foods they like. Foods they knew how to fix. Foods their families like, and this is Rusty’s legacy,” said Rebecca.

Not only were the taste and cultural preferences of GRACE clients served, but dietary restrictions and limitations were also recognized. Rusty’s pantry also offered infant products, hygiene and cleaning supplies, pet food, and other items.

Rusty’s new program used a voucher system so clients could “shop”. For many clients, shopping at the GRACE Food Pantry taught or reinforced the life skills of menu-planning and budgeting.

“As our clients moved from GRACE to lives of self-sufficiency, these were the skills they took with them to Walmart, Kroger or Tom Thumb,” said Rebecca. “Over the last twenty years, we are now talking about generational self-sufficiency. And they all have Rusty to thank.”

Rusty retired in 2020 but as his health would allow, he still visited GRACE frequently and kept in contact with many of his co-workers, volunteers, and donors.

“We all loved and admired him so much,” said Stacy. “His celebration of life will be our chance to honor his memory and express just how much he meant to us, and to those who worked with him over the years.”

In honor of the Independence Day holiday, all administrative and program sites at 837 E. Walnut Street will be closing at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3rd and reopening at 9:00 a.m on Friday, July 5th. The hours will be as follows:

Wed, July 3rd: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Thurs, July 4th: CLOSED

Fri, July 5th: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

GRACEful Buys Resale stores and Donation Station will remain open under normal operating hours.

If you have an emergency that cannot wait until normal operating hours, please contact Client Services at 817-602-1204. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Have a safe and blessed holiday!