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In a few weeks, our annual “24 Hours of GRACE” campaign on March 24 will ask you to help us build a new Donation Station. We will also ask you to spread the word about “24 Hours of GRACE” and the need for a new Donation Station.

Most everyone you talk to will be familiar with Donation Station and the need for a new facility. Here are just some of the talking points you can use to convince your friends to make a gift during “24 Hours of GRACE”.

  • On any given day, hundreds of donors pull off the heavily-traveled North Scribner Road that is in close proximity to schools, popular restaurants, city facilities, and neighborhoods.
  • Since March 2019, an average of 3,650 donors drive through Donation Station each month, equal to 140 cars per day, or one car every 4½ minutes.
  • The volume of donors through Donation Station has increased by 67% in just the last few years. In recent months, the volume of cars per day has peaked at over 200.
  • GRACE Donation Station has served as the drop-off location for donated goods for more than 15 years.
  • The Donation Station building is aging, and three years ago sustained fire damage to walls, outer panels, and storage bay doors, reducing its life expectancy even further.
  • Donation Station supplies clothing, shoes, coats, bedding, and blankets for the GRACE Clothing Room that serves an average of 3,600 clients each year.
  • Donation Station provides housewares, furniture, and clothing for the GRACE Transitional Housing program, as well as other clients as the needs arise.
  • Remaining donations coming through Donation Station are delivered to three GRACE resale stores, or sold to vendors in bulk.
  • In the last five years, GRACE’s net revenues from resale stores have funded 25% of the direct costs of GRACE services for clients.
  • Donations of used clothing and housewares lessen the impact on local landfills by hundreds of thousands of pounds annually.
  • Nearly all donated items are recycled. Clothing, housewares, furniture, electronics, and other materials are distributed to GRACE clients, sold through resale stores, or purchased by vendors and converted back to parts and raw materials.
  • A new Donation Station would provide a larger, more accessible location to meet the current and future needs in receiving and processing donations.
  • The proposed site features numerous single- and double-door entrances, two loading docks, and forklift access to multi-level storage within the building.
  • The site experiences good traffic flow, but it is not the constant large volume of traffic at the current site on North Scribner and Northwest Highway.
  • A large lot adjacent to the building offers an expanse that can be reconfigured into a broad loop for the drop-off of donated materials. Access and egress for donors would be eased by an entrance that provides for two-way traffic.
  • Renovations within the building will provide space for sorting and tagging, storage, testing, offices, a break room, restrooms, and other needs.
  • An attached warehouse facility provides needed storage for seasonal resale inventory, boxed clothing, operational supplies, and event materials.

Donation Station is a popular destination for many GRACE volunteers, so many of your friends and others you’ll ask to support “24 Hours of GRACE” will be aware of Donation Station and its condition. It is one of only a few GRACE sites that can accommodate large corporate, church, and youth groups.

Often volunteers are asked to park on Grapevine Middle School property and walk several blocks and across two streets, including North Scribner, to offer their volunteer service. The new location will have substantial parking for volunteers in a lot close to the building. A one-acre undeveloped parcel adjacent to parking offers many future growth opportunities.

This “24 Hours of GRACE” is your chance to do the very most good for the people GRACE serves. On Monday, March 23, you will receive a post from our Chief Executive Officer Shonda Schaefer.

You will be asked to donate to help build a new Donation Station to GRACE. Then, when “24 Hours of GRACE” arrives on March 24, please give generously and ask your friends to do the same.

After, please send a link to your friends, coworkers, associates, and partners—tell them you have made a gift to help build a new GRACE Donation Station and ask them to make a gift. A new Donation Station will help continue the GRACE mission well into the future.

If you are interested in a tour, or just learning more of the details, please email Mark Woolverton, or call 817-305-4654.