Main Content
North Texas Texans Can Academies To Kick Off Summer Meals Program For Kids Monday
One of the challenges facing too many families every summertime is feeding their youngsters. During the school year, these kids rely on school providing breakfast and lunches. But those meals disappear when school is out. Many times programs step up to make up the difference. However, this year’s COVID-19 has already put incredible pressure on the various food programs.
With this in mind, four North Texas Texans Can Academies are kicking off the Summer Meals Program with free breakfasts and lunches to any child up to the age of 18.
Starting Monday, meals will be served curbside Monday through Thursday with breakfasts from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and lunches from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the following Texans Can campuses:
- Dallas Grant East at 2901 Morgan Drive in Dallas
- Dallas Oak Cliff at 325 W. 12th Street in Dallas
- Dallas Pleasant Grove at 1227 N. Masters in Dallas
- Fort Worth Westcreek at 6620 Westcreek in Fort Worth
The program will run through Friday, July 31.
* Graphic courtesy of Texans Can Academies
Reliant Energizes COVID-19 Resources With $100,000 Donation For Four Area Nonprofits
It’s always great to end the month with beautiful weather and good news. Thanks to the good folks at Reliant, four nonprofits that have served as critical resource centers during the COVID-19 weeks will share in Reliant’s $100,000 donation.
- $25,000 to GRACE in Grapevine, which has focused efforts during COVID-19 on its food pantry, community clinic, senior services, transitional housing and client services, increasing the number of families served by six times compared to last year.
- $25,000 to Metrocrest Services, which saw a 293% increase in pantry visits during the month of April and a 268% increase in rental assistance requests.
- $25,000 to Mission Arlington, an organization focused on the emergency needs of families who have lost jobs or have reduced hours during the pandemic. Since March, the nonprofit has seen a 30% increase in assistance given to the community.
- $25,000 to Network of Community Ministries, which is providing food (including food pantry pick-up, weekend meal boxes to RISD schools and senior home deliveries), housing assistance, and virtual job coaching services during the COVID-19 response within the 14 ZIP codes that make up Richardson ISD in Dallas County.
This donation follows Reliant’s other recent contributions of $100,000 to support Baylor Scott And White’s remote monitoring of COVID-19 positive patients, as well as $25,000 to the MedStar Mobile Healthcare Foundation in support of DFW-area first responders.
According to Reliant President Elizabeth Killinger, “Reliant is dedicated to helping our fellow Texans during this uncertain time and making sure our communities have access to the basic necessities they critically need. We are incredibly moved by the work local nonprofits are doing to help care for our neighbors, and we are honored to help light the way by supporting these crucial services.”
* Graphic and photo provided by Reliant
We’ve Rescheduled! – Camp Summit’s Jim And Linda Teague Golf Tournament
According to Camp Summit CEO Carla R. Weiland,
The Jim And Linda Teague Golf Tournament benefiting Camp Summit for 26 years was originally scheduled for Monday, April 27. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we had to cancel but are happy to announce we have rescheduled for Monday, August 31, at Bear Creek Golf Club. The tournament begins at 8:30am with a shotgun start. Our Co-Chairs Bobbie Heller and Paul Straten, and our Honorary Co-Chairs Josh and Scott, both campers, have done a fantastic job helping us transition the tournament to a later date.
We hope to have 200 golfers at our tournament. Breakfast, lunch, and several contests will be included in the registration cost. We also have an exciting raffle and a silent auction planned. We will end the afternoon with an awards ceremony that includes hearing from some of our very own campers. New this year, is our women’s only division – so clear your calendar and join the fun!
The funds raised from our tournament will go towards financial assistance for our campers to attend camp as well as to help support the specialized equipment, supplies and staffing needed to ensure a 2-to-1 ratio so campers of all disabilities and ages can attend our unique camping programs. 90% of our campers rely on tuition assistance to afford camp, so, our tournament is one way we can raise funds to support our camper’s needs while hosting an event that our golfers enjoy year after year. For additional information about our tournament, please visit www.CampSummitTX.com/Golf2020.
* Graphic and photo provided by Camp Summit
JUST IN: Longtime Rainbow Days Staffer Tiffany Beaudine Named CEO
Still more changes are taking place in the nonprofits leadership world. This one is over the rainbow, so to speak. It was back in 2018 that Sherri Ansley succeeded Rainbow Days Founder Cathey Brown as the organization’s CEO. A little over a year later, Sherri left to join Drug Prevention Resources as CFO/COO. It was in October 2019 that longtime Rainbow staffer Tiffany Beaudine “stepped into the role of interim executive director.”
Since joining Cathey and Rainbow Days 20 years ago, Tiffany had held various leadership positions including development, marketing and fundraising. During her heading up the development team, $1M in private contributions were achieved each year.
It was just revealed that Tiffany has been upgraded to Rainbow Days CEO.
According to Rainbow Days’ Board of Directors Chair Kurt Opella, “As our world seems to be changing before our eyes, rest assured, Rainbow Days has a leader that combines the passion, empathy and strategic vision to ensure Rainbow Days is not only well equipped for today but for years to come.”
In addition to her Rainbow Days role, she is a member of the Nonprofit CEO Council, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Center for Nonprofit Management and RevJen Leaders Circle. A native Texas, Tiffany lives with her husband and their three children in Arlington.
* Photo provided by Rainbow Days
Get Up And Get Doing: Fly Me To The Moon
With Wednesday’s no-go launch of the Live SpaceX because of unfriendly weather, the rescheduled launch for Plan B (Saturday at 2:22 p.m.*) and Plan C (Sunday at 2 p.m.*) provides time for North Texans to bone up on what the big deal is about this event.
When NASA ended the Space Shuttle program in 2011 due to rising costs, its astronauts hitched rides to the International Space Station on the Russian spaceships with seats going for a hefty five-figure amount per seat. In the meantime, it opened up an opportunity for Elon “Mr. Tesla” Musk’s SpaceX to chase his dream of taking to the skies above. He not only created a program to ship supplies to the Station, but to eventually take people into space with NASA being involved as a client.
His efforts resulted in the Falcon 9 rocket and its Crew Dragon “gumdrop-shaped capsule” having places for four for NASA missions and being able to accommodate seven paying tourists in the future.
Interested in a place on board? Be prepared because you’ll blow out your Black Card to reserve a place. Cheap seats are going for $1M. Plus, there is a waiting list already. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has already signed up for the around-the-moon-and-back package trip.
In addition to the new look of the space capsule, the spacesuits are much less cumbersome. Instead of the past Pillsbury Dough Boy look, the spacesuits look like Armani had a hand in the design.
Originally, plans called for the first manned launch from US soil in nine years to take place at Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the International Space Station in 2019. But due to circumstances that even Elon couldn’t control, it was postponed to 2020.
Finally, when the big day arrived Wednesday past NASA mission vets Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were ready to take off. But, alas, it was called off at the last minute due to Mother Nature. When asked if the astronauts’ safety had been a priority for the cancellation, Elon didn’t hesitate saying it was “the only priority.”
If the launch does take place this weekend, Bob’s and Doug’s original plan to stay a couple of weeks at the Station was changed due to the 2019 to 2020 delay. The boys will be there a month. Great news! They’ll be back in time for the Fourth of July.
Now that you’re a Falcon 9 fan, gather around the screen Saturday afternoon and keep your fingers crossed that the launch takes off for a whole new future in the universe.
* Central Standard Time ** Photo courtesy of Pixaby
JUST IN: 2020 Moody Scholars Recognized In Parking Lot Presentations At James Madison And Lincoln High Schools
Parking lots are becoming the special places of interest nowadays thanks to the world created by COVID-19. For instance, the parking lots of James Madison High School and Lincoln High School were the scenes of a presentation of laptops to the 15 students, who were named Moody Scholars as part of the … Read More...
We’ve Rescheduled! – Attorneys Serving The Community’s 34th Annual Luncheon
According to Hope Supply Co. CEO Barbara Johnson, Hope Supply Co. and Attorneys Serving the Community have rescheduled the Attorneys Serving the Community’s 34th Annual Luncheon benefiting Hope Supply Co., originally scheduled for Friday, June 12, at the Dallas Omni Hotel. Event co-chairs … Read More...
JUST IN: Jessica Dunn To Succeed Mandy O’Neill At Leukemia Texas
Memorial Day usually means a time when things wind down for the summer. But leave it to the year 2020 — things just aren’t the same. For instance, it’s just been revealed that change is in the wind over at Leukemia Texas. Mandy O’Neill, who has served as CEO since 2012, has taken a new position … Read More...
Get Up And Get Doing: Make One Last Clean Sweep For SAWA Fashion Show And Luncheon
Sometimes there is a ray of sunshine in the darkest of days. In the case of the past months of COVID-19 event reschedules, there was some good news. When the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary Fashion Show And Luncheon was postponed from its spring date to Tuesday, September 15, it provided more time … Read More...
JUST IN: 25th Annual Parade Of Playhouses Will March On At NorthPark With Tickets Available Only Online
For the past 25 years, Dallas CASA's Parade of Playhouses has marched in place to raise funds for Dallas CASA and to find backyards for the mini-mansions. And this year won’t be different. Well, it will be a little different. The collection of ten playhouses will still be on display at NorthPark … Read More...
We’ve Rescheduled! – Community Partners Of Dallas’ yCPD Field Day
According to Community Partners of Dallas President/CEO Paige McDaniel, "The young professionals group of Community Partners of Dallas (yCPD) has rescheduled it 6th Annual yCPD Field Day from Saturday, May 16, to Sunday, September 13, from 1 – 5 p.m. at The Rustic, located at 3656 Howell … Read More...