Originally published - October 2012
Celebrating 25 years of GRACE
For the past 25 years GRACE (Grapevine Relief and CommunitybrExchange) has been a safe harbor for local people in need throughout NortheastbrTarrant County providing not only assistance to fill the immediate needs ofbrindividuals and families but education to help people gain self-sufficiency. TriciabrWood, the founding executive director for GRACE was key in establishing thebrorganization in 1987 and served in that position through 2006. “When we startedbrout,” Tricia said, “we used our funding for emergency assistance, like food andbrclothing. We started from scratch and added programs as we went.”
What began as a steering committee of Tricia Wood and otherbrlike-minded people back in 1986 is now a firmly established charity that stillbroperates with the same fundamental values of its founders. The GRACE mission remainsbrthe same as it did in the beginning as well with GRACE striving to use the blessingsbrand resources of the local community to provide assistance to individuals andbrfamilies in crisis and help guide them toward self-sufficiency.
GRACE through thebryears
When GRACE first officially opened its doors in 1987 thebragency was located in one-half of a duplex building on busy West Wall Street inbrGrapevine. The small staff was part-time and a handful of volunteers kept thebrfledgling agency going. Space was very cramped but the commitment of the groupbrbrought warm coats to needy people in the winter and put food into the mouthsbrof those that needed assistance. Tricia recalled, “It was a great blessing, webrstarted when the community was small and grew along with the community.”
After quickly outgrowing their small duplex, GRACE movedbrinto a more than 50 year old historic home where every nook and cranny was filledbrwith office space for staff or storage space for donated items and food.brDonated clothes were collected and sorted in a garage out back and then baggedbrfor storage in the home's creaky attic. “Back when the community was smaller itbrmay have been a little easier to recognize need,” Tricia admitted. “We had abrsteady and consistent growth – the driving force for us was people in need, thebrmore there were the harder we worked to help them.”
Looking back, Tricia said, “When we moved to the citybrbuilding in 1995 it was really a big step for GRACE. We went from a part-timebrsituation to a full time operation and we were able to add more members to ourbrstaff.” Today GRACE is still housed in that same facility on Shady Brook Drive throughbra 30-year lease with the City of Grapevine. With more than 4,000 square feet togetherbrwith another 1,000 in office space in a cottage behind the primary buildingbrGRACE more than tripled the size of their old home.
After twenty years with GRACE Tricia Wood made the decisionbrto follow other passions in her life including becoming a flight attendant butbrshe is still actively involved in her community. “It was hard to make thebrdecision to leave,” said Tricia. That decision was made easier by knowing thebrorganization was in good hands. She commented, “I knew there was a very goodbrboard of directors in place, professional, dedicated, and Christian. I stillbrlove all the people involved in GRACE.”
GRACE today
Coming on board as Executive Director in 2006, ShondabrSchaefer picked up the torch carried by Tricia and the two women remain goodbrfriends to this day. “My respect and relationship with Tricia gave us thebrstability and consistency in our leadership which, in turn, strengthened ourbragency,” Shonda said. When first beginning her service at GRACE, Shonda workedbrin a volunteer role on the board of directors. Today she is responsible forbrstrategic planning, fund raising, board development, staff supervision,brvolunteer management, and financial planning to lead the agency into thebrfuture.
Even in these difficult economic times, the arms of GRACEbrreach out to help its neighbors in a multitude of ways with programming thatbrassists in leading them to self-sufficiency. Each program is designed tobrprovide not only immediate aid in the short term but lasting changes for life. Accordingbrto the latest annual report, in 2011 alone GRACE provided more than 38,604brservices in a variety of programs including clothing and food needs, housing,brand health care to families in Grapevine, Colleyville, and Southlake as well asbrhomeless and transient families in need resulting in $1,642,909 directbrfinancial assistance.
Transitional Housing is another program at GRACE that offersbrfamilies who qualify the opportunity to work toward independence by providing clean,brstable housing for up to two years. Woodbrremembers, “A big concern we had was getting transitional housing going, webrknew these people had nowhere to live.” While residing in transitional housingbrindividuals focus on improving their life skills including education andbremployment while focusing on their overall well-being physically, emotionallybrand spiritually. “The educational programs came along because we wanted a waybrto help people make changes that would make a permanent difference in their lives,”brTricia said.
“OurbrOutreach to Health Community Clinic has enabled us to help our clients betterbrmanage their chronic diseases and thus assist them to be able to betterbrfunction in the community. We help keep them out of the hospitals, takingbrcare of their families and
working,” Director Schaefer said. “Once webrdiscover the health issue, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol,brdiabetes or obesity, we help our clients manage it and even improve it in mostbrcases. Our preventative program is what I see as one of the greatestbrbenefits to our clinic. We provide the education to help our clientsbrprevent these common, but serious, chronic health problems.”
Withoutbrthe volunteer physicians, nurses, and pharmacists the GRACE health clinic wouldbrnot be possible. Shonda shared, “Our professional health providers are allbroutstanding volunteers. We wouldn't be able to function withoutbrthem. They are so unselfish giving their time to our clients and alwaysbrwanting to give back to our community. They really have a heart for ourbrmission.”
With the recent years of economic turmoil taking its toll onbrfamilies, meeting the basic necessities of food and clothing has become abrstruggle for many. According to Shonda Schaefer, “Our pantry is a Client-ChoicebrPantry which is very different from others in our region. We purposelybrestablished the pantry to be a mini-grocery store, which gives our clients thebrability to choose which foods their families actuallybrwill eat within a defined budget.” Along with learning to shop within a familybrbudget, clients can benefit from the cooking classes offered by GRACE so theybrcan take pantry ingredients and learn to cook more nutritiously.
“Just two years ago,” Shonda continued, “we added a gardenbrwhich provides fresh herbs and vegetables for our client families. Last year,brthe gardens produced nearly 1,500 pounds for the pantry. We rely on many volunteers andbrdonations to sustain this special type of pantry and garden. For thesebrreasons, our clients have a better opportunity to reach self-sufficiency frombrusing a client-choice pantry. Most importantly, it gives our clients abrgreat sense of dignity.” Last year the GRACE Food Pantry provided foodbrfor 3,300 individuals at a value of over $500,000 and holiday feast baskets tobr2,644 people with a value of over $69,000.
Clothing remains a year round need and the Grace ClothingbrRoom provides clothing four times a year for both adults and children.brVolunteers in the Clothing Room sort and package donated clothing for GRACEbrclients including shoes, coats, and linens. More than 940 families receivedbrclothing last year from GRACE whose mission statement for the clothing centerbris “Clothing the Body, Lifting the Spirit.”
There are several seasonal programs at GRACE that focus onbrneeds at certain times of the year. During the summer, many children whobrqualify for reduced or free lunches during the school year no longer havebraccess to healthy lunches so GRACE Feed Our Kids steps in to provide a programbrthat provides lunches to the children where they live. Businesses, churchbrgroups, civic groups and other volunteers bring and serve lunches and not onlybrdo the kids receive a nourishing meal many groups bring games to play with thebrkids. During the 11-week summer break in 2011 this program served up more thanbr32,000 meals to 650 kids.
Operating much like the food pantry, a very special seasonalbrevent is the GRACE Christmas Cottage, which provides gifts for clients'brchildren in a store-like setting open for two and a half weeks before the holiday.brParents register with a caseworker for the cottage and are given an appointedbrtime to come shop and a specific amount they can spend on each child, based onbrthe child's age. Volunteers help parents on their shopping trips and every yearbrmore than 800 children get to experience the joy of opening gifts on Christmasbrmorning.
GRACE Resale Program
The organization's highly successful resale program not onlybrsupplies much-needed items to clients but also acts as an additional source ofbrfunding for all the programs offered by the organization. Donations that comebrin from the community are sorted and distributed and any items not needed forbranother program or that will provide more client benefit by being sold arebrtaken to “GRACEful Buys,” the upscale resale store, or “Style & GRACE,” thebrspecialty boutique for women's designer fashions. Resale revenue contributes 25brpercent toward annual funding of ongoing programs.
There are now two locations for donation centers wherebrvolunteers stand ready to accept household goods, clothes, shoes, TV's andbrelectronics, books and items for home décor. A new site at Compass ChristianbrChurch on Pool Road has joined the donation station located on Scribner Streetbrin Grapevine. Large donations of items like furniture and appliances arebraccepted at the GRACEful buys store.
Much to Celebrate
Multiple fundraising efforts like those happening at thebrresale locations go on throughout the year but without a doubt, the largestbraffair is the Black Tie event of the year – the annual gala. “It took a longbrtime to have the size of network we needed to pull off the gala,” Tricia laughed.br“I still have a refrigerator magnet from the inaugural event in October of 2004.”
The 2012 Gala – Angels Among Us – will be at the IrvingbrConvention Center at Las Colinas on Saturday, October 13. Shonda told us, “This is our 9thannual gala. Historically, the event is one of the largest in our areabrattracting about 800 attendees. Our business, civic and community supportbrhas grown each year truly making the GRACE Gala not only a fundraiser but alsobran incredible evening of celebration and giving back.” Delighted with thebrfact that funds raised at the gala directly support GRACE programs benefitingbrresidents in our local communities, Shonda commented “I am very proud thatbrmonies raised at the gala go to help our neighbors in need. Our staff,brvolunteers and sponsors work very hard to keep our costs down while findingbrunique and wonderful ways to lavish our guests in grand style. This eventbrprovides a way that we can come together to celebrate each other as we helpbrGRACE help our neighbors in their time of need. It gives us time tobrrejoice in giving, in helping and in celebrating.”
Even though we live in an affluent area there is never abrshortage of people in need during these tumultuous economic times and for thebrpast twenty-five years GRACE has been there to act as the silver lining tobrclouds of despair for their clients. As GRACE celebrates this SilverbrAnniversary year Tricia Wood shared this thought summing up her emotions, “Thebrfirst word that comes to mind is thankful. I'm thankful I could be a part of itbrall and I'm thankful it's still going strong today. People with a good heartbrcan make things happen.” Truer words were never spoken.