In addition to being “National Volunteer Month,” April might be declared “Fundraising Lunch Month” with North Texas noontime fundraisers springing up like bluebonnets.
The latest entry in the food funders is VolunteerNow’s Hearts Of Texas Luncheon. Taking place on Thursday, April 18, at the Dallas Arts District Mansion, the event will have highlights including the presentation of awards.
Previously presented to the late Ruth Collins Sharp Altshuler, Lyda Hill, Erle Nye, Roger Staubach and former First Lady Laura Bush, the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024 will honor Randy Bowman, who “is known as an innovator in law and business, building successful careers in both, including 17 years as president of the successful logistic company he co-founded.”
Also being honored will be Community Partners of Dallas with the Ruth Collins Sharp Altshuler Award for “its excellent stewardship of volunteers” and Lewisville ISD with the Tammy Richards Impact Award “for driving greater impact” through their partnership with Voly.org.
According to VolunteerNow CEO Rachel Currie Triska, “Every year at Hearts of Texas, we bring together people with big hearts doing big good in the Big D and beyond. This year, we look forward to celebrating Randy’s outstanding achievements, and Community Partners of Dallas and Lewisville ISD for the exceptional work they and their volunteers do every day.”
Also on the program will be a “fireside chat” between Randy and The Ticket’s Gordon Keith.
As Luncheon Chair Chitra Raman reported, “We will hear about Randy Bowman’s legacy and his devotion to his mother, Annie Lois Hunt Bowman, who inspired him to achieve and serve in transformative ways. He is an extraordinary leader and dedicated civic contributor whose service is an inspiration to us all, and we are excited to honor him.”
It was his mother’s inspiration that led Randy to launch At Last! – The Urban Boarding Experience, “a weekday boarding experience for kids in poverty” in 2021.
Randy explained, “I regard myself as the product of an amazing earthly mother and a grace-yielding Heavenly Father, and I want my work to reflect my unending gratitude to each. I’m honored to be receiving this prestigious award and thankful to VolunteerNow for it. My mother taught me that education is the key to a better life. I seek to honor her and the sacrifices she made to enable me to have this adult life. I do so through At Last!, which helps today’s similarly-situated moms access the educational resources necessary to enable their kids to have better adult lives.”
How does At Last! work? Focusing on third, fourth and fifth graders, it presently has 16 students (aka Scholars-In Residence). “During the school year, a Scholar-In-Residence goes to the At Last! Residence each Sunday during the afternoon and returns (after school) each day until Friday. After school on Friday, each Scholar-In-Residence returns home for the weekend. He/she is also at home during each holiday and for the full summer. Bottom line: A Scholar-In-Residence spends more days at home with his/her family during a year than at the At Last! Residence.”
Sponsorships starting at $2,500 and individual tickets going for $150 are available here.
* Graphic courtesy of VolunteerNow ** Photo courtesy of Randy Bowman