What’s one of the best parts of being on the GRACE team? The opportunity to go out and serve the community! We are so thankful to all of our supporters, and make sure to take time to support others in the same way. Just in the last week, members of the GRACE staff participated in and volunteered with a number of community events!  First, Grapevine’s annual Grapefest took place last week from Thursday to Sunday. GRACE staff served at various booths serving beer and wine to festival attendees and had a blast. Great weather, fun friends, and celebrating the city GRACE calls home!  On Monday, Director of Community Engagement, Meredith Martin, participated in the annual Colleyville Chamber Golf Classic! She even took first place in the Women’s Long Drive!  Finally, GRACE sponsored the Southlake Chamber Luncheon yesterday for their North Texas Giving Day luncheon. Staff members attended not only to

A heartfelt thank you to each of you who made North Texas Giving Day an impactful success for GRACE! Offering compassionate guidance and assistance to families and individuals facing hardship and hopelessness is the mission of GRACE and it is truly a humbling experience on North Texas Giving Day to watch our community choose GRACE over hundreds of other charities asking for their support. By choosing GRACE during North Texas Giving Day, your generosity provides stability, encourages self-sufficiency, and brings a continuum of care to those who so desperately need it. On behalf of the GRACE Staff and each GRACE client – we thank you for your support!

Are you looking for another meaningful way to give back to your community? Consider becoming a volunteer at GRACEful Buys in Euless! This is the second GRACE resale storefront, located at 700 W Euless Blvd. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 9 am – 6 pm! Volunteers play a vital role in the success of the GRACE resale shops. Their dedication and hard work ensure the smooth operation of the shop, benefiting both the community GRACE programs. As a resale store volunteer, you will have a range of important duties and responsibilities. These may include organizing merchandise, assisting customers, processing donations, and maintaining the cleanliness of the shop. Your role may also involve pricing items, arranging displays, and promoting upcoming sales or events. With each task, you are actively supporting the GRACE mission and ensuring its overall success! Volunteering at the GRACEful Buys Euless resale shop provides you

Each year, our community participates in North Texas Giving Day an online event created to support the many non-profits and the work they do to meet needs across North Texas. In less than a week from now, on September 21st, GRACE will stand alongside our community of incredible non-profits and ask for your support. By choosing GRACE, your generosity will provide stability, encourage self-sufficiency, and bring compassion and assistance to those who so desperately need it. For many years now, GRACE has offered a safety net of support and a continuum of care to families facing financial hardship. So often our clients are undercut by an illness, loss of a job, decreased work hours, car repair, accident, or some other incident that amounts to a devastating financial crisis. As we launch our 37th year of service, we look back on our accomplishments, but we are also keenly aware of the

This past Monday, the GRACE Community Clinic hosted a Mental Health Awareness class to help clients learn how to recognize stress, how to cope with it, and how to distinguish healthy fears and anxieties. Over 40 GRACE clients attended, and they loved it!  Led in both English and Spanish, this class served to give explanation and meaning to various mental health conditions that affect so many people, such as anxiety and depression, and how these conditions manifest in day to day life, such as insomnia and physical changes. Coping techniques and management tools, such as breathing exercises and forms and self-care, were also taught to the attendees.  GRACE is thankful to our many partners that help make these classes possible and successful for our clients! Thank you especially to Nikita Kennedy, LMFT, and Dr. Antonio Miranda, RD, LC CDCES, for leading this class together.  For more information on the GRACE

Did you know that the fall and winter months are one of the busiest times for the GRACE resale shops? GRACEful Buys Grapevine is a vital resource for the community, as it helps fund a hearty portion of our annual budget. GRACEful Buys Grapevine is a located just down the road from historic downtown Grapevine, and is an upscale resale shop loaded with items for the entire family. We feature everything from clothing and shoes to toys to jewelry and home décor. We also get new merchandise daily so you’ll never find the same thing! The store is organized in a shopper friendly way and the staff and volunteers who work there truly are amazing. Donations from our Donation Station are placed in this store for the community to purchase. At GRACEful Buys Grapevine, the back lot has furniture donations as well! GRACE is always looking for people in the

The 2023 GRACE Gala features a breathtaking trip to the Belt Mountains of Montana! Enjoy a five-day, four-night stay for two surrounded by 7,000 acres of private recreational land including soaring cliffs and striking views of the rolling Highwoods and Belt Mountains. The Ranches at Belt Creek combine the very best of a hunting lodge, a dude ranch, a fly fishing retreat, and a ski resort–all in one place. 365 days of great outdoor activities await. Enjoy one activity per guest per day appropriate to the season ranging from horseback riding to snowmobiling. No matter the season, Montana is your playground and adventure awaits! Life begins when you step out of the ordinary and step into the breathtaking. As a full-service resort, Ranches at Belt Creek offers all-day dining services. Relax with five-star services wrapped in rustic simplicity as your getaway is customized through an on-site concierge and your personal

For many in the community, volunteering at GRACE Donation Station is the first opportunity to help with GRACE programs. The GRACE Donation Station is a hub where the generosity of our community is directed to those in need. Donation Station is a drive thru drop –off site where all donations from the community are processed. Over the 2022-2023 year, donations have averaged over 400 cars per day! Process wise, donations are sorted first to fill client needs, then the remainder goes to stock our GRACEful Buys Stores. For this to happen, much occurs behind the scenes to sort, assess and manage the incoming donations. This work is accomplished by volunteers assisting GRACE staff. With this time of year being  peak for donations, volunteers are so needed to assist GRACE staff sort all the items. “The end of the year is our busiest time,” says Brian Matthews, GRACE Donation Station Manager.

This week, staff members from Chicken N Pickle in Grapevine showed up to volunteer their time with GRACE. The group broke up into teams to tackle multiple projects across our various sites, and made a huge difference! Featuring lawn games, fresh food, and of course, pickleball, it’s no wonder Chicken N pickle has become increasingly popular since opening. Perhaps the best thing about them is their dedication and commitment to giving back locally. It’s part of the culture at Chicken N Pickle – “Our Hearts Are Local,” is their motto when it comes to community engagement. That’s how 100 – yes, 100! – staff members wound up serving GRACE this past Tuesday. Volunteers worked on landscaping around the main office, helping at our GRACE-ful Buys resale stores, shopping for much needed items for our food pantry, and updating benches and tables around the office with fresh coats of paint! Not

Each year, the President’s Award is given to one GRACE employee that demonstrates an outstanding performance in upholding GRACE values. The award is presented at the August meeting of the Board of Directors, the end of our fiscal year. Nominees are selected by the GRACE leadership team, and the final recipient is decided by the Board President. This year, the award was presented to Martisha Smith, the GRACE Transitional Housing Manager! Martisha started her tenure at GRACE in October of 2020. She came to us with a degree in Social Work and years of experience working in case management, student intervention, and supervision of programs. To be successful running a transitional housing program, a person needs a unique combination of administrative skills, interpersonal skills, good judgement and organizational skills. Building a solid relationship is key in working with clients but also with staff and volunteers. A strong case manager needs