Recently GRACE had a family come through our doors completely distraught. A wife and mother of young children was in a panic because her husband had recently survived a medical trauma and was unable to work during his recovery. Even though he was expected to return to work at the end of January, they would not begin receiving income until well into February. As he was the sole financial provider of the household, this unexpected crisis had them at a loss. They have always been a financially responsible household, and for the past seven years, they had never been even a day late on their rent! Now, due to their current situation, they wouldn’t be able to make the payment at all and were facing a housing crisis. The family shared that they came to GRACE because they did not have any family here and did not know where else

If there is one thing the GRACE Community needs to know, it’s this: We love our volunteers! The hard work, dedication, and compassion of our volunteers are crucial to GRACE’s ability to serve the families and individuals in our community. Words cannot express how appreciative GRACE is of its volunteers. From sorting clothes at Donation Station, to early morning set up at the GRACE Gala, GRACE volunteers go above and beyond for our community! If you’re looking to get involved in our community and join the team of GRACE volunteers (but have yet to do so), we want to show you how easy it is to get started! Anyone interested in volunteering at GRACE just needs to follow these three steps: Application Orientation Signup and Volunteer! Once you have submitted your application, you will receive an email with the GRACE Volunteer Orientation Packet and the links to our online sign

In recognition of busy schedules, time constraints, school and work hours, GRACE is offering Volunteer Orientation in two amazing ways! Those interested in volunteering with GRACE will submit their Volunteer application and receive a packet containing all the information needed to get started. This will include the mission and focus of GRACE, the history, information on all of our volunteer opportunities, and much more! With this in mind, we are very excited to announce Discover GRACE! With Discover GRACE, we’ve adopted a more hands-on approach to our Volunteer Orientation. Here, we’ll give our community an in-depth look at the work that goes in to fulfilling GRACE’s mission, while opening the doors to our community— not just to our volunteers. At GRACE, we believe that encouraging self-sufficiency will, in turn, encourage community cohesiveness. GRACE demonstrates compassion for those less fortunate by providing assistance to individuals and families in crisis. But GRACE

The GRACE team is very excited to announce our new two-part “GRACE in Action” newsletter! We are transitioning away from our usual weekly newsletter to a new format that we think you’ll love. Twice a month, GRACE will share amazing stories on who we are, what we do, who we help, how to get involved, and how to help our community! At the beginning of the month, we will share with you how GRACE assists individuals and families in need and how this helps the community around us. Then, toward the end of the month, we will spotlight how you can be involved in this mission to help individuals and families become self-sustainable after a financial or life crisis! We will also use this space to highlight upcoming events, GRACE programs and volunteer opportunities! We hope that you are as excited as we are for this new and improved newsletter

It is that time of year again! As we start a new calendar year, individuals and families are preparing to complete their tax returns to finalize their 2023 taxes. It is a costly process for many if they pay out of pocket to have their tax returns filed…money that takes away from the refunds they might receive. This is where the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program benefits so many households in our community. Along with the IRS and United Way of Tarrant County, GRACE offers free income tax assistance to eligible households who earn less than $64,000 per year. This program offers confidential services by trained IRS volunteers that make the filing easy. VITA is at the GRACE Main office at 837 E. Walnut Street on the following days between January 23rd and April 13, 2024. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays:  2:00pm to 7:00pm Saturdays:  9:00am to 2:00pm. Simply come by GRACE

Maybe you’ve heard stories of the elevated entertainment the annual GRACE Poker Tournament promises, but the idea of playing yourself keeps you from pulling the trigger. If so, GRACE invites you to enjoy high class without high stakes! For the very first time, GRACE is offering for those who would prefer not to play in the tournament to be a part of the event gallery! As a member of the gallery, you are welcome to enjoy the food, the drinks, try your hand at various casino games, take a lesson in poker to prepare for next year, or just relax and watch the tournament unfold. Available for $100, get your ticket to for an exclusive look at the first of GRACE’s annual events! With the tournament just a week away, the room is almost full, so secure your spot while you still can. Your support of and participation in this

If you’ve volunteered with GRACE at all in the last few months, then you’ve certainly met Anni Hengesbach-Gomes, our Volunteer and Public Relations Coordinator – and one of the latest additions to the team! If you haven’t had a chance to meet her, allow us to introduce her! Anni was born in the Bay Area of California and lived there until she moved to Texas in high school. When it came time for college, she decided to head to the University of Oregon to earn a degree in Sociology. Growing up, Anni had a lot of big dreams – everything from becoming a firefighter to going to law school! She still has big dreams today, including returning to school for a Master’s degree in Sociology. Anni found GRACE through a friend of her mother’s, and she is so excited to be a part of the team! Two things that stood

The 6th Annual GRACE Poker Tournament is just around the corner, and we’d like to take a moment to highlight some amazing members of our community who’ve chosen to sponsor this great event!   King of Hearts  Our first King of Hearts sponsor is BoomerJack’s Grill and Bar! A longtime supporter of GRACE, BoomerJack’s has been serving everything from juicy hamburgers, to crispy chicken wings, to fresh salads since 2002 in locations across the Metroplex. The folks at BoomerJack’s have shared their overwhelming generosity with GRACE over and over again, and for that we are grateful! For more information about BoomerJack’s, please visit https://boomerjacks.com/.  We also thank the Joanne E. “Jody” Matthews Estate, executors Melissa Moss, Edith Lenington, Jill Duncan, and Sharon Pinkerton, for their generous support as a King of Hearts sponsor!  Queen of Diamonds  Showing continued support for GRACE is our Queen of Diamonds sponsor, the Netzer Family Charitable

A new year for GRACE Transitional Housing residents means a new vision. The first monthly meet of the year called for something big – making a vision board to make the vision clear for the upcoming year. Vision Boards are a creative way to remind each of the residents of their goals throughout the year and act as a guide to help them form the path they want to set for the rest of their lives. During the meeting, the group talked about how, after overcoming trauma and stress, planning for the future can be overwhelming and scary, but necessary for a self-sufficient future. Each resident was able to use this first meeting of the year to walk through their goals in a way that gave them space to breathe, process, and come up with achievable goals to accomplish along the path to their ultimate vision. The group also discussed