Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth Inc. opened its 20th location in the greater Fort Worth area with the addition of a new 12,000-square-foot retail store, donation center and free career center in Granbury. The new location, at 1427 S. Morgan St. (Texas 144) in Granbury’s Port Brazos Center, opened on May 10 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The store is part of Goodwill’s expansion strategy to reach as many residents in Cleburne, Denton, Fort Worth, Weatherford and surrounding areas as possible to serve more individuals with disabilities and special needs. The career center inside the Granbury Goodwill location provides Hood County residents with free access to job-search experts, computers, Internet and telephones. The career center is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Granbury store is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. As with all Goodwill retail locations, all sales proceeds will go to support Goodwill’s charitable mission. To contribute items to Goodwill, visit www.goodwillfortworth.org for a list of area drop-off locations.
Stamp Out Hunger! The 21st annual Stamp Out Hunger! food drive organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers – the nation’s largest one-day food drive – will be May 11. Mail carriers in Tarrant, Denton, Johnson and Wise counties will collect nonperishable food placed beside residential mailboxes for donation to either Tarrant Area Food Bank or North Texas Food Bank and other local hunger-relief agencies providing emergency food and meals programs. The week of the drive, letter carriers will deliver grocery bags donated by Kroger to residential customers to fill with food. The donations will help feed the estimated 500,000 school-aged children in the metro area who depend on school meals for their primary source of nutrition. Children account for more than one-third of individuals receiving food from hunger-relief charities and social service agencies served by the two area food banks. For information about the Stamp Out Hunger! food drive, visit http://www.nalc.org/commun/foodrive/.
Gift catalog sets record The Shared Community Benefit Foundation celebrated a record-breaking year of donations and participation for the 2012 Greatest Gift Catalog Ever at the third annual Reader’s Choice Awards luncheon on May 2 at the Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth. Last year, the catalog generated more than $350,000 in direct donations to 15 Tarrant County-area nonprofits, a 35 percent increase over the previous year. Since its inception in 2007, the catalog has raised $874,000 with a total charitable impact of $2.5 million in Tarrant County. The Reader’s Choice Awards recognize participating organizations that received the highest level of donations. This year’s award recipients are: Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Fort Worth, Most Individual Contributions; Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County, Most Overall Contributions and Most Program Contributions; Northside Inter-Community Agency, Rookie of the Year; CASA of Tarrant County, Youth Philanthropy Award; and Texas Healthcare, Founder’s Spirit of the Community Award. In 2013, the catalog will expand to include 18 area nonprofit organizations, adding three new organizations – A Wish with Wings, Helping Restore Ability and Recovery Resource Council. Founder Elliot Goldman said nearly 40 area nonprofits applied to be included in the catalog this year.
Food truck fest a sweet success More than 10,000 patrons enjoyed a smorgasbord of gourmet food trucks, live bands and performers, and children’s activities while helping benefit a worthy cause at the inaugural Texas Food Truckin’ Fest April 26-27 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Presented by Experience Arlington and Rangers Enterprises, the event broke the record for the biggest two-day gathering of food trucks with 33 total. The fest served up foodie favorites such as First Bite Gourmet, The Bacon Lover’s Truck, Simply Dosa, Nammi Truck, My Cupcake Garden, Bombay Chopstix and Texas Rangers’ Ballpark Express. The Best Truckin’ Food Truck 2013 trophy, based on audience votes by text, was awarded to Empanada Armada. The trophy was designed and created by custom food truck and multimedia vehicle builder Cruising Kitchens. A portion of the proceeds from the event will go to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
Fashion show raises $245,000 for cancer, heart health In its 20th year, the Texas Health Harris Methodist Foundation’s annual Puttin’ on the Pink Fashion Luncheon raised net proceeds of $245,000 to provide cancer and cardiac screenings for underserved women in Fort Worth and surrounding communities. On April 4, more than 900 guests attended the fundraiser, which was sponsored by Neiman Marcus and hosted by the Kupferle Health Board of the Texas Health Harris Methodist Foundation. This year’s Altruism Award went to community leader Anne Paup, who was the first Kupferle chairwoman (then called the Doris Kupferle Advisory Board). In its 20 years, Puttin’ on the Pink has raised more than $3.5 million and evolved from providing screening mammograms to providing a full range of cancer and cardiac screenings for underserved women.
Belk Charity Sale grows In its first Charity Sale of the year, Belk Inc. raised more than $5.3 million for nearly 8,000 nonprofits across its 16-state footprint. On April 27 the four-hour semi-annual shopping event served as a fundraising tool for participating organizations that sell $5 tickets to their supporters. It’s also an opportunity for customers to support local nonprofits while taking advantage of special in-store discounts on purchases during the event. Last year’s Charity Sale supported thousands of nonprofits such as March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, Special Olympics, United Way, American Red Cross, animal rescue organizations, local school athletic and scholastic organizations and numerous local churches. In 2012, Belk raised more than $10 million for charities during its spring and fall Charity Sales.
Craig Schaefer to lead Komen Greater Fort Worth Craig Schaefer, most recently the associate executive director of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, will take over as executive director of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Greater Fort Worth Affiliate beginning June 17, the organization announced May 9. Ann Greenhill, who served as Komen Greater Fort Worth’s executive director for the past nine years, and has been with the organization for almost 11 years, will retire in mid-June. “We are excited about Craig continuing in Ann’s footsteps,” said Joan Katz and Rosanne Rosenthal, co-founders of Susan G. Komen for the Cure Greater Fort Worth Affiliate. “He has a long history of working with the local breast cancer community and his leadership skills will be invaluable to the organization.” Schaefer previously served for 15 years as executive director of Cancer Care Services. He will represent the Fort Worth Affiliate to the public, policy makers and community organizations; lead organizational development and strategic planning; provide guidance to volunteers and committees; optimize financial performance; build donor relationships; oversee personnel; and impact public policy. Komen Greater Fort Worth grants funds each year to organizations in the Affiliate’s service area of Tarrant, Parker, Johnson and Hood counties to support breast cancer education, detection, treatment and research. Schaefer earned a master’s degree in education administration from Central Michigan University and a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from the University of Nebraska.
Tarrant Area Food Bank wins Walmart grant Tarrant Area Food Bank(TAFB) has been selected as one of 40 winning Feeding America food banks to receive a $45,000 grant from Walmart’s Fighting Hunger Together initiative. Throughout April, customers voted for more than 300 Feeding America food banks and their partner agencies by visiting www.walmart.com/hunger. As a result of the votes cast, 100 food banks and partner agencies will receive a total of $3 million in grants – 40 Feeding America member food banks will receive $1.8 million in grants ($45,000 each) and 60 of their partner agencies will receive $1.2 million in grants ($20,000 each). TAFB is one of more than 200 Feeding America banks located throughout the United States. The Feeding America network of food banks and their partner food assistance agencies, such as food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and after-school programs, feed 37 million people annually, including nearly 14 million children. The $45,000 Walmart grant will be used to help provide weekend food for children participating in the TAFB BackPacks for Kids program. Food for one child’s backpack for one weekend costs $6. Each week, TAFB serves an average of 2,000 or more children at its 37 BackPacks for Kids sites in four counties.
Send nonprofit items to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net