Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County
You never know what someone might be going through until you experience it yourself. Southlake resident Jennifer Hough got a glimpse of that last month when she delivered 100 sack lunches to Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County in Fort Worth.
Jennifer was inspired after seeing a friend donate to the church with a small group over the summer. After she made small contributions such as peanut butter to the group, Jennifer decided to involve her family in their own charitable effort.
“I wanted to make my kids do something other than sitting around playing video games,” Jennifer muses. “I wanted to help and have my kids realize how good they have it.”
Jennifer and her family assembled 100 sack lunches filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, granola bars, apples, oranges and water bottles. When she pulled up to the shelter, she was shocked to find homeless people sitting on benches, lining up waiting to get inside.
Jennifer says the experience put into perspective for her the struggles some people have to live with.
“It makes me sad,” she says. “So often people look at the homeless and see somebody who’s there because they do drugs, or drink a lot, or have a mental illness. They don’t look at them and see somebody is there because they lost their job and couldn’t find another one in a bad time. We’re all one disaster away from being homeless. It just takes one thing happening to be out on the streets.”
Jennifer says she plans to go back to Union Gospel and deliver more sack lunches, first on July 27, then every Friday in August. If you would like to donate or volunteer, you can email JenBer18@hotmail.com or visit SignUpGenius.com.