GRACE Transitional Housing families are sending their love and appreciation for your generous response to their needs. The cool weather over the last two days have given GRACE staff and volunteers the time to install the last of the air conditioning units you purchased with your gifts over the past few weeks.

The women and their small children in the GRACE Transitional Housing apartments have been suffering all summer with ACs on their very last legs. We had hoped to squeeze one last season out of them, but with nearly all of our clients furloughed or laid off from their jobs due to the pandemic, and at home during the heat of the day, the situation became unbearable.

Each apartment had two small window units—one in the bedroom and one in the front of the apartment. Missing knobs, broken vents, duct-taped panels, and other “fixes” were common. The units ran 24 hours a day and could never get ahead of the heat.

More than two dozen generous souls stepped forward with gifts to cover the cost of the new air conditioners. Their generosity, literally, will be felt by Transitional Housing families for many years to come.

Our appreciation and the gratitude of our clients also include our community-minded allies and friends who rallied around this need. Our special thanks are reserved for Ms. RaDonna Hessel, chief executive at the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce. She sent emails to all Chamber members asking for their support and the response put us over the top!

Thanks go out to Lisa Arnold, Chris Badger, Ed Boone, Steve Brown, Vicky and Stan Dobbs, The Downs Family, Dean Hawks, Duren Jenkins, Carrie Kennedy, The Maloy Family, Ashley Marcum, Terri Miller, Cindy Mitzel, Sheila and Mark Moyer, Morgan Nichols, Jeannie Norris, Tracey Nuss, Joan Rawson, Roy Robertson, Jason Ridley, Alicia Sibert, Johnie Sneed, Ron Stacy, and Sean Tanner.

Thanks also to Balla Wright and Judy and Tom Hund for their major gifts and pledges to help make the Transitional Housing apartments comfortable—the perfect place to regain footing as a family, overcome challenges, and seek better lives. Thanks all.