Arts Council Northeast (ArtsNET) hosted their 25th Shining Stars Awards Luncheon last week. This luncheon is an opportunity for non-profits to celebrate volunteers who make a difference to their agency as well as to the community. GRACE was thrilled to honor two volunteers who have made a huge impact on the GRACE Community Clinic, one from 2022 and one for 2023 at this award ceremony. The GRACE 2022 Shining Star was Mita Mehta. Mita owns Glenview Professional Pharmacy with co-owner Keith Van Heise. Over seven years ago, Mita started helping GRACE Community Clinic access flu vaccines for its patients. She loved the GRACE mission and serving patients that do not have access to traditional health care. During the pandemic, Mita contacted GRACE again to offer to help supply and administer COVID vaccines. To date, she has provided over 2,000 vaccines through her partnership with GRACE! The GRACE 2023 Shining Star

Are you Car Care Aware? April is National Car Care Month and that means taking a few extra steps to make sure your vehicle is in good operation. This may not only prolong the life of your car but save you time and keep you and your passengers safe. Keeping your check engine light off also ensures your car is not polluting more than necessary, which means better air quality for all of us in the region. With warming weather conditions, make sure your coolant levels are topped off with antifreeze to prevent your car from overheating and leaving you stranded. Worn treads on a tire can seriously impact a car’s ability to stop in the rain. If your tread depth is less than 4/32”, you should consider replacing the tires. Also, if you hear squeaking brakes, that is your vehicle’s way of telling you there may be an issue

Every summer for the last six years GRACE has organized two mobile pantries each week to increase food availability (especially produce) for our neighbors. We have discussed in great detail what it would take to extend this service throughout the year. So when White’s Chapel purchased a mobile pantry trailer and began offering a mobile pantry to a school with high rates of families who qualify for free and reduced lunches in Ft. Worth, GRACE was eager to join in and offer a mobile pantry in Grapevine! White’s Chapel has been a huge partner in helping GRACE reach the needs of families and individuals in and around Tarrant County. GRACE is blessed to finalize plans for what we both think will only be the first step in year-round Mobile Pantry food delivery. The first White’s Chapel/GRACE Mobile Food Pantry is scheduled for Thursday, May 11th at the Grapevine Community Outreach

This past month GRACE has been recognizing our most valuable resources – our Volunteers! GRACE would be remiss to not include our wonderful of Board of Directors. This amazing team of ladies and gentlemen oversees the mission, vision, and internal operations of the GRACE organization, and we just want to say thank you! Over the past year, the Board of directors has been in an intense strategic planning mode, looking for new ways to reach our communities, and offer more services to families and children alike. Their passion for serving the community is leading their charge and making it their mission to go above and beyond. Along with their frequent planning meetings, the GRACE Board also works as a liaison to local businesses, organizations, and civic groups to build better relationships for the community. For over three decades GRACE has partnered with many organizations and has continued to have successful

With the 2023 GRACE Designer Bags & Bingo just a week away, it feels only appropriate to showcase the purse everyone will have their eyes on – the Christian Louboutin. French designer Christian Louboutin shoes are instantly recognizable for their vibrantly red-lacquered soles. Today, the collection includes a line of handbags that are every bit as covetable as the shoes, and this bag is no exception! The elegant Cabarock Large tote bag has an iconic modern allure. Its black calfskin has an embossed alligator scale finish.  This sophisticated, yet edgy tote includes an open top, a zipped pouch, signature red lining, and flat handles looped through a contrasting, smooth leather harness feature. The leather joins on the top of the bag, and the tote is framed with spike embellishments for an elegant yet unique twist. To finish off this dream bag is the iconic red sneaker sole. If you’d like

It’s never a bad time to think about donating to the GRACE Christmas Cottage! In fact, we accept Cottage donations all year long, and with the many midyear sales starting soon, we hope that you consider donating a family gift this year! A wonderful perk of the GRACE Christmas Cottage is that every family leaves with a family gift. These special gifts are items that the entire family can enjoy. However, with the many families that the Christmas Cottage serves, it can be a challenge to keep a variety of family gifts on the shelves. GRACE supporters help to eliminate this problem, by their generous donations of family gifts, and you can too! There are many ways to take advantage of these midyear sales. Many family gifts come in all kinds of items. Such items can be found at Bed Bath and Beyond. As you may have heard, the 52-year

AJ’s BBQ on Main celebrated their 10-year anniversary on April 1st, and as a way to continue the celebration, AJ Gillinger and his family have decided to give back to the community of Grapevine! On Saturday, May 6th, come join the fun by celebrating AJ’s and our community! The event is from 4PM to 9PM and will include live music, food, drinks with dancing, and of course – fun! As a regular of AJ’s it is not uncommon to push the tables aside and dance the night away. Meeting up with old friends and making new ones, AJ’s is always a place for fun, laughter and dancing! What’s so generous is that AJ’s on Main is incorporating helping the GRACE Food Pantry in their festivities! Having retired from the U.S. Air Force as well as the local police department, AJ has often reached out to GRACE for support within the

At long last, GRACE is very honored to welcome Park Place Dealerships to the top of the Sponsor Board for Designer Bags & Bingo. “At long last” because for more than a dozen years, GRACE and Park Place have been seeking a sponsoring opportunity equal to the prominence, generosity, and community-minded focus of the much-admired automotive group. As the Presenting Sponsor of this year’s Designer Bags & Bingo event, Sunday, May 7, at the Fidelity Investments headquarters in Westlake, Park Place has found a GRACE event to shower with its renowned influence and marketing mastery. And, with the right-of-first-refusal, we hope this partnership extends well into the future. Park Place has long been a strong supporter of GRACE Christmas Cottage. Many will remember the fabulous Christmas Cottage launch parties at the Lexus dealership in Grapevine. Mounds of toys, dolls, games, sporting equipment, and other fun stuff would spill from sleigh-red

For a second year in a row, GRACE collaborated with First Baptist Grapevine to put on another successful Faith & Finance Class for GRACE Clients and we must say that it was amazing! Financial stability is a very important part of becoming self-sufficient. Here at GRACE, we are always trying to find new ways to guide our clients on their journey into self-sufficiency, and our community helps us do this in so many special ways. One of those ways is our Faith & Finance Class The Faith & Finance class is a 9-week course, from the Chalmers Faith-Based Curriculum, which is designed to help individuals manage their finances, with the end goal being Christ-centered flourishing. This course was coordinated by Certified Public Accountant, Monica Huber, and Treva Donnelly. Throughout the course, GRACE clients were paired with mentors, who met with them during the week to pass on tools and advice

For the past fifteen years, the GRACE Community Garden has not only been a source of fresh produce for the local community, but it also serves as an educational resource. With 12 garden plots producing up to 2,500 pounds of organically grown produce a year, it helps supply much-needed nutrients to GRACE families. This year is looking to be a great one for the garden as mother nature has been on our side with ample growing weather! In honor of Earth Day, it only seemed fitting to take a look at what our green-thumbs in the GRACE Community Garden have been up to this spring. As with most activities at GRACE, it’s the volunteers who do the heavy lifting, scooping, raking, and shoveling that gets the job done. Master Gardener Caryn Hutchinson assisted by Robert “Bob” Dansby and Becca Clarke and many more have put so much time and attention