November 17, 2021 – The Dallas Morning News – Francesca D’Annunzio
The Dallas Morning News Charities has kicked off its 36th annual fall-winter fundraising campaign to benefit North Texas nonprofits.
This year’s campaign, which starts Wednesday and ends Jan. 31, will benefit 23 agencies that help families and individuals facing homelessness and food insecurity.
The fundraising goal is $1.5 million. Because The Dallas Morning News pays the campaign’s administrative costs, 100% of donations go to nonprofits.
Last year, a combined $1.7 million was raised by a special COVID-19 Charities campaign and the fall-winter drive, marking the second-highest giving total in the charity’s 35-year history.
Grant Moise, publisher and president of The Dallas Morning News, said that the campaign’s aim is to support and work alongside agencies in North Texas fighting to solve homelessness and hunger.
“We continue to be thankful for those of you who trust us to get your generous donations into the right hands as we continue to find better ways to help our homeless and hungry citizens,” Moise said.
“We are encouraged by the strong work across our community that has taken place in 2021, and we are optimistic about all that can be accomplished next year,” he said.
The campaign is kicking off with nearly $440,000 in hand, thanks to early gifts that included $200,000 from the J.L. Williams Foundation and over $45,000 from this year’s North Texas Giving Day fundraising event, among other donations.
Camille Grimes, executive director of The Dallas Morning News Charities, said that donors’ generosity has helped keep nonprofits’ doors open in a critical time of need, with more North Texans facing food insecurity and homelessness during the pandemic.
“Over the last 20 months, our charities extended their programs to reach even more people who were homeless and hungry for the first time in their lives,” Grimes said.
Christi Wilson, director of development at City House, a Plano-based nonprofit that serves at-risk and housing-insecure youth in North Texas, said the agency’s work has been strained by COVID-19.
City House officials had hoped to expand their shelter to serve more clients, but the pandemic derailed that plan. The agency also had to cancel its biggest annual fundraiser and saw 2020 volunteer hours plummet by 50% from the year before. With fewer volunteers available and client needs rising, the staff was more thinly stretched.
Demand for services also continues to rise at Crossroads Community Services in southern Dallas.
Crossroads manages a food pantry, does research and education, and works with 150 community partners to distribute food across North Texas. Currently, the pantry serves more than 400 households weekly, a total that is high for the organization, CEO and president Benaye Rogers said.
The agency expects to see the same number or more families coming in for services through the end of the year.
The end of the pandemic is still far off for Crossroads clients, Rogers said. It could take them another year and half to recover financially, she said.
Many have been unable to work, used up the last of their stimulus checks, have been hit by the end of the eviction moratorium, racked up medical or back-rent debt, and are burdened by the rising cost of living.
Some clients also didn’t have savings, and one obstacle after another pushed them out of their homes and into their cars.
“Our families just can’t afford the grocery store,” Rogers said.
Crossroads clients also don’t have equitable access to food, she said. Many families served by the agency live in a food desert in southern Dallas County. They have to drive 5 to 10 miles to reach a supermarket, she said.
Every dollar counts for Crossroads, Rogers said. One dollar helps to provide four meals. And $20?
“That’s a week’s worth of food for a family,” she said.
2021-22 Dallas Morning News Charities participants
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Family Gateway
Shelter and supportive housing programs for children and families affected by homelessness with wrap-around services including case management and an education program. Online: familygateway.org
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