Due to the holidays, GRACE locations will be operating under adjusted hours. If you have an emergency that cannot wait until normal operating hours, please contact Client Services at 817-602-1204.

Warm wishes and happy holidays from the GRACE Family to yours!

GRACEful Buys Grapevine and Euless:

December 19: 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

December 23-25: CLOSED

New Years Day: 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Client Services:

December 20: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

December 23-27: CLOSED

December 31: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

New Years Day: CLOSED

January 2: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Programs, Development, and Administrative Offices:

December 20: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

December 23-27: CLOSED

December 31: 9:00 – 3:00 p.m.

New Years Day: CLOSED

January 2: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Donation Station:

December 19: 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

December 23-25: CLOSED

New Years Day: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Everyone deserves to feel safe. For many of us, that feeling comes from being in our homes, surrounded by memories and those we love most. Home and the security it provides is something that we all hope for and deserve.

Recently, a client came into GRACE to request assistance with a security deposit. She had to find a new place to live due to a mold situation that remained unaddressed by her previous landlord and was affecting the health of her five children – but her biggest obstacle had been the deposit.

The client owns a small business where she does hair and while it does allow her the flexibility to work and care for her children all at once, the income is not enough to be able to afford to pay a large sum all at once. Through diligent searches, the client had finally come across a house that had a reasonable deposit. By partnering with GRACE, she was able to put the full deposit down which allowed her and her children to move in, regain security, and enjoy their new home just in time for the holiday season.

After further assessment with a GRACE care manager, the client was also offered access to our food pantry so she could have temporary relief from the high grocery bills. During this holiday season, this client expressed that she knew she had much to be thankful and grateful for.

Asking for help is truly one of the bravest things any of us can do, GRACE meets that bravery with compassion and helps to secure and stabilize households as they work to regain their financial footing.

After countless hours, heartfelt prayers and a few sleepless nights… not only have we secured GRACE’s NEW Christmas Cottage location, but, we’ve completed move in! Our dedicated Elves and volunteers worked tirelessly to relocate all the Cottage necessities into the amazing space; complete with a fireplace to really make it feel like home. All we need now is YOUR help to bring it to life!

Each year, GRACE’s Christmas Cottage provides families facing financial hardship, a unique “shopping” experience by allowing parents to select new, unwrapped gifts for their children. The family is also provided an opportunity to select a family game or puzzle; a small household item; books; and even wrapping paper and ribbon to complete the Christmas tradition. Last year, Christmas Cottage was able to provide 957 families with gifts they might not have received. And, this year, we’re anticipating even more of a need.

That bring us back to YOU! This program would not possible without the help and support of our community. Please consider the opportunities listed below.

Volunteer

Gather your friends, family members, co-workers (or just yourself) and sign up for a shift or two to help out at the Christmas Cottage! Several shifts are still available and we can even help you decide the area where you’re most comfortable. Whether it’s working behind the scenes accepting, pricing and organizing donations or spending your time assisting our clients with check in or to “shop,” we could use you! Please sign up today by visiting GRACEGrapevine.voly.org Or by contacting us at volunteer@GRACEGrapevine.org.

Donate Toys or Host a Toy Drive

As of now, the Cottage is extremely low on Teen Gifts, Family Gifts, and Wagons! A more comprehensive list can be found on the GRACE website by clicking HERE. If you would like to host a Toy Drive or event benefitting this program, please contact debeling@GRACEGrapevine.org or call 817-305-4474.

Make a Gift

You can make a financial gift for the Christmas Cottage by visiting our donation page HERE. GRACE maintains strong relationships with area retailers to multiply the value of your gift.

Last, but never least: Pray

Please continue to pray for those families who are struggling this holiday season as well for the volunteers, staff, and supporters as they work to meet the need.

Finally, mark your calendar for December 3rd, from 4:30pm (children’s time with Santa) and 5:30pm for adults, for our annual Christmas Cottage Open House located at 2705 E. Grapevine Mills Circle, Grapevine! Please help us celebrate all the work that went into creating our Cottage by bringing a new, unwrapped toy or gift with you. Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Please RSVP using this link!

Two months have passed since we’ve launched Voly— our new Volunteer platform. In just a short time, we’ve had the chance to greet or meet over 500 new and existing volunteers! We appreciate all of our volunteers for making this transition with us, and we are so excited to see where it will take us!

Change is never easy, and it has been a learning curve for all, including GRACE staff. Through it all, we know many of you may be wondering— Why did we make this switch in the first place?

The root cause leads back to the core values of GRACE – To promote excellence and to continue to be good stewards of the countless hours that our volunteers have given to GRACE and our programs. To do so, we wanted to improve organization, communication, and accessibility of the volunteer experience at GRACE.

The previous method of using SignUp Genius was effective for a season, but it was heavily divided, with volunteer opportunities isolated across multiple links. GRACE needed a system that could house all of these opportunities, while still maintaining their unique features, like their descriptions, location, primary contact, dates and shift times, etc.

With Voly serving as our ‘Volunteer Hub’, it will hold volunteer applications and volunteer opportunities, so we are able to spread the word to all volunteers.

With any new system comes new processes. We want to make note of a few:

Businesses/Groups:

· Businesses, Churches, organizations, schools, and other groups looking to schedule a volunteer date (or multiple dates!) at GRACE will not go through Voly. Voly is designed to house individuals, with posted opportunities having set shifts and limits on the number of volunteers that can sign up.

· We recognize that groups can range in size from 5 to 50, and may have specific dates and times available to them. Groups will continue to contact the GRACE Volunteer Coordinator at Volunteer@GRACEGrapevine.org to schedule their date!

Scheduling Dates and Shifts:

· When creating an Opportunity on Voly, GRACE will enter dates and shifts in bulk. Once posted, these cannot be changed. Therefore, it is crucial all volunteers check the description of a posted opportunity before signing up! Half days, holiday hours, and additional information will all be posted. This is also why signing up online in advance is so important!

· Any unexpected or sudden changes in shifts or cancellations will be sent directly to volunteers who have signed up.

Background checks:

· Background checks are required to work with clients. All volunteers— current and incoming— who would like to work with clients (This includes two volunteer types: Individuals interested in working with clients & Clinic) must submit a background check! If you’ve submitted and had a background check approved between October 2023-September 2024 you will not need to re-submit your background check. We will go in and approve it manually. Until approved, your application will say “Background Check Consent” is “In Progress” (and highlighted in yellow).

· We understand some volunteers may be uncomfortable sending in their background check over email/digitally. If so, volunteers can print the background check and bring the physical/printed copy to GRACE Main (837 E Walnut St, Grapevine, TX 76051).

Upcoming Opportunities:

We have a lot of fun seasonal opportunities posted on Voly, in addition to our year-round opportunities:

• Set up & Decorating | NOW – Dec 3rd  (Closed Nov 28th – 29th. Early Closure Nov 27th and Dec 3rd)
• Shopping with Clients & Back End | Dec 4th – 20th  (Half Days on Saturdays and Friday, Nov 20th)
• One shopping day with extended hours | Dec 12th  (3 shifts): 8:15-12:00 | 12:45-4:00 | 3:45-7:00

Be on the lookout for future postings on our Friends & Family Program, Client Services, and more!

We can’t wait to see where this new system will take us, and we appreciate all of your support as we move forward!

For any questions relating to Voly or volunteering with GRACE, please contact the GRACE Volunteer Coordinator at Volunteer@GRACEGrapevine.org

As we near the end of 2024, we are already looking ahead to all the wonderful things in store for 2025! Each year, GRACE hosts three amazing events to help support the many programs and services provided to the community. The first of which is the annual Poker Tournament!

On Saturday, February 1st, the 7th annual Poker Tournament will be held once more at Park Place Land Rover DFW, located in Grapevine at 1300 E State Hwy 114, Dallas, TX 75261. Complete with poker, delicious bites and drinks, awesome swag items, door prizes, and more, this evening is a great way to support GRACE while also enjoying a night out! There are a number of ways to be involved with this great event, so read on to learn more.

First, as with any event, it would not be possible without the support of our amazing sponsors. There are multiple sponsorship opportunities available as various levels and with numerous benefits! If this is something you’re interested, be sure to reach out to Mark Woolverton at mwoolverton@GRACEGrapevine.org.

Next, if you would like to join the tournament as an individual player, we have got a seat for you! Spots are available for $1,000 each. Every player is welcome to bring a guest along as well – we like to consider it a “Lucky Charm!” Maybe you’d like to attend the tournament as a guest, but prefer not to play poker…and we’ve got room for you, too! Attend the event and join as a Gallery Attendee only for a 100.00 donation! As an attendee, enjoy dinner, drinks and either watch the amazing poker tournament or try your hand at some casino games. This year, try your luck with Blackjack and Roulette.

It is hard to believe, but February will be here before we know it, and we can’t wait to see you at this great event. For general questions on Poker or any GRACE events, reach out to Erica Baker at ebaker@GRACEGrapevine.org

This week, GRACE held its annual Thanksgiving Food Distribution! Clients were given dinner packages containing all of the holiday staples and were met with the compassion of our wonderful volunteers. 

This year, GRACE distributed 598 boxes over the course of three days! In the past, our Holiday Food Distribution has served a total of 800 families every year, which is expected to increase this year. We couldn’t begin to accomplish these numbers without the help of our volunteers!

We would like to give a special thanks to this year’s volunteer groups: John Slocum & Friends, Good Shepherd Men’s Club, Baylor Scott & White, First Baptist Church Grapevine, Gateway, Faculty from Grapevine Middle School, Great Wolf Lodge, 121 Community Church, Grapevine Masonic Lodge, and St. Lawrence Church. Thank you for all of your hard work and smiling faces throughout the week! 

Now, GRACE is gearing up for its December Food Distribution— and we need your help! 

We anticipate receiving another 500+ clients for our December Food Distribution. If you are interested and able, we would greatly appreciate your help in putting together the remaining packages.  

Each package contains: 

• Canned Sweet Potatoes 
• Canned Fruit 
• Instant Potatoes 
• Cranberry Sauce 
• Canned Chicken Broth 
• Canned Mushroom Soup (10.5 oz.) 
• Sugar 2 or 5 lb.) 
• Flour (2 or 4 lb.) 
• Green Beans (canned 2) 
• Cooking Oil 

• Instant Stuffing 
• Instant or Canned Gravy (no glass jars) 
• Pancake Mix 
• Syrup 
• Canned Pumpkin
• French Fried Onions (6 oz.) 
• Corn (canned) 
• Jell-O (1 box) 

If you have any of these items left over— or would like to purchase some— we would greatly appreciate the donations! If you’d like to help put boxes together, please reach out to Volunteer@GRACEgrapevine.org to get started.

Happy Thanksgiving from GRACE!