At its Monthly meeting, the Vestry of St. Thomas the Apostle approved our parish’s Outreach Grants. For several years, we have provided funds to various organizations to assist them with their programs and special projects. We had budgeted $5,000 for 2019 but no grants were awarded in that year so the amount was rolled into 2020 to accompany our budgeted $5,000 for this year.
Here are this year’s recipients:
- Dallas Hunger Relief – a partnership through the Diocese of Dallas and the Greater Dallas Coalition. Each food truck holds 448 boxes of groceries (50 pounds each); each box contains produce, meat, and dairy and each family gets one box. Each food truck costs $600. We are paying for 5 food trucks for $3,000!
- Christmas Toys for Dallas Children in Need – another partnership with the Diocese of Dallas and the Greater Dallas Coalition. We are contributing $1,000. This is in addition to what our members have donated to children in the care of Child Protective Services.
- Inspired Vision Compassion Center – This organization provides various services to the Southern Dallas sector, including food. They provide clothing, over the counter medicine, diapers and formula, adult diapers, bed pads, hygiene items, first aid, home medical equipment and various other items to families in need. They have approximately 50-75 volunteers each day, Monday through Friday, and they need to be fed. We are contributing $3,500 towards a commercial range and refrigerator, including the commercial gas range in our kitchen, assuming they can use it.
- Promise House – This organization serves LGBTQ youth, especially those who are homeless. We are contributing $2,500 towards their residential program that will provide safe and secure lodging for these young people.
