Eagle Boosts GRACE Curb Appeal

The front lawn at GRACE Main Offices has taken on a brand new look thanks to local Eagle Scout candidates. Phase two—landscaping—was completed this past weekend. Read more.

Earlier this month, Eagle Scout Enoch Sng and his crew refurbished the sign on the GRACE front lawn. This past weekend Hunter Macias put his planning and management skills to the test by landscaping the remaining spaces in front of GRACE Main Offices at 602 Shady Brook in Grapevine.

Eagle Scout candidate Hunter, from Colleyville’s Troop 402 of Boy Scouts of America, designed this project to correspond with the launch of the GRACE Feed Our Kids program that begins in a few weeks.

Beginning in early June children from the Scribner and  Shady Brook neighborhoods will converge on GRACE Main Offices every weekday at lunch, and Hunter wanted to make sure the grounds were suitable for the youngsters—and volunteers—to enjoy their time at GRACE.

Last Saturday, after several months of horticultural study, planning, obtaining materials and scheduling volunteers, Hunter and his team removed numerous dead shrubs and replanted with shrubbery more suited to the Texas summers. Existing hardy nandina—too hardy, in fact—were trimmed to manageable height. Kudzu and other invasive vines and weeds were removed.

Low-hanging live oak branches were pruned and the grass—a survivor of many years of small feet and even smaller feeding and watering regimens—was given an appropriate dose of weed and feed, and a good soaking. Final dressings of mulch were given to the trees and shrubs.

GRACE invites all to visit the offices at the base of Scribner and Shady Brook to see the wonderful work done by Hunter, Enoch and all of their volunteers!

Sweet Rides and Fine Wines

Grapevine’s Delaney Vineyards & Winery is the site for the Spring 2013 Vintage Car & Truck Show produced by Memory Lane Car Shows, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. this Saturday, May 25. The event is free to the public.

Local vintage car enthusiasts can show for a $20 registration fee. Awards will be presented in 33 classes with nine Best of Show awards. Registration is open until 11:30 a.m.

Delaney will conduct wine tours and tastings at 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. T-shirts and dash plaques are available for the first 50 people. Free voting will determine the People’s Choice Award.

GRACE will benefit from a 50/50 Raffle conducted by Delaney Vineyards. Half of the pot will go to the raffle winner and the other half will be donated to GRACE.

Delaney Vineyards & Winery is at 2000 Champagne Boulevard in Grapevine. For information visit the Delaney Vineyards website or call 817-481-5668. For additional competition information visit Memory Lane Car Shows or call 469-383-6464.

BNSF is Unbelievable

Even with severe storms in yesterday’s forecast, 20 volunteers from BNSF Railway came in force to help GRACE in many ways.

“It is just unbelievable how much work these volunteers accomplished before the storms came,” said Volunteer Manager Jan Smith.  “They had planned other projects for us that could not be done in inclement weather, so they alternated their plans and helped us at GRACEful Buys.”

Before the rain began, some brave men and women trimmed trees and shingled the roof on a much needed storage shed.  They also built a ramp at the entrance of GRACEful Buys, our resale store located on Northwest Highway.  The ramp now ensures all who shop will have a beautiful, safe entrance into the store. Others helped in the store with inventory sorting, labeling, and stocking.

“Each of our volunteers makes a huge difference in our GRACE operations,” Jan said.  “We enjoy BNSF every time they join us in helping our communities, and we thank each of them for all they do.”

An Official Sponsor of the Gala

With GRACE Gala season surging ahead towards October 12, now is the time for corporate sponsors to join and take advantage of the great marketing benefits available. Read more.

The GRACE Gala, by all accounts, is an elegant and exciting evening of gourmet foods, fine wines and superb entertainment—all for the best cause: helping those less fortunate in our community. Gala festivities will take place Saturday, October 12 at the Irving Convention Center.

Yet, the GRACE Gala also is a tremendous marketing opportunity for local businesses to demonstrate their commitment to their community and their support for a mission dear to the hearts of some of their best customers and potential customers.

Levels of sponsorship bring access to the 800-plus GRACE Gala guests and the 250-plus VIP Party guests. Sponsors promote their names or logos in the Gala program, listings and links on the GRACE Gala website, names or logos on the massive entrance signs and on the sponsor appreciation video.

Top level sponsors place ads in the Gala program and avail themselves of express VIP registration. Featured and exclusive sponsorships bring added valuable benefits.

Perhaps most important and beginning soon, GRACE Gala advertising in top local magazines and other periodicals will start in June. All monetary sponsors will be listed by name or logo in all advertisements leading to the Gala. Monthly advertisements are scheduled through October.

Sponsors are encouraged also to promote their participation in the GRACE Gala by including verbiage and the GRACE Gala logo on websites and marketing materials. Let everyone know you are “an official sponsor of the GRACE Gala”!

Unless limited by exclusivity or values, the GRACE Gala is open to all sponsors wishing to support the mission of GRACE. Some sponsorship plans can extend payments through August 2014. For more information click on GRACE Gala Sponsors or call 817-305-4654.

S & I Golf Benefits GRACE

Last Friday a Grapevine Concourse full of local builders, building materials suppliers, lenders, real estate agents and others, learned about GRACE, its history and the services GRACE provides to those in need in this community.

While GRACE Executive Director Shonda Schaefer addressed the group to express appreciation and recognize Structures & Interiors for their generosity, it was Mike Lease, president of Structures & Interiors, who moved the golfers with his learned narrative of GRACE and his heartfelt testimonials on GRACE’s behalf.

For the fifth year in a row, Mike dedicated the proceeds from his tournament to GRACE. Structures & Interiors matched the proceeds and donated nearly $2,500 to GRACE. Structures & Interiors is a general contractor specializing in renovations and new construction of optical facilities, dental offices, imaging centers, veterinary clinics and special care facilities.

GRACE, once again, humbly thanks Mike, his wife Carolyn, Structures & Interiors Executive Vice President Grady Herzog, and all the generous folks at Structures & Interiors for another wonderful event!

Eagles Soar at Transitional Housing

Two Boy Scout Eagle candidates and their troop of volunteers took on similar projects at GRACE Transitional Housing over the weekend, both with equally marvelous results.

The Hollywood version would be titled “Dueling Eagles”—two daring, heroic young men pitted against one another in a contest requiring the utmost strategy, skill, ingenuity and leadership. Each would bring a company of dedicated experts bent on the success of their leader and driven by pride in their accomplishments.

The two would square off on opposite sides—the ebb and flow of their campaign based on the savvy and planning of the heroes. In the end, both would prevail for the good of all. And GRACE has two really nice looking carports.

By pure coincidence, Craig Allen and Steven Smith achieved the most coveted of individual Scouting awards this past weekend by repairing and painting the carports at GRACE Transitional Housing.

Steven, a member of the Boy Scouts of America Troop 344 in Colleyville, and Craig, from Troop 402 in Southlake, each approached GRACE individually seeking a proper project to put forward to satisfy the requirements of their Eagle Scout programs.

Each then chose to refurbish a carport, and each scheduled their project dates at Transitional Housing based on when their volunteers could serve and the time it would take to plan and gather materials. It just so happened that both young men chose the same Saturday.

Craig and his crew of volunteers worked on the south carport: and Steven and team set out to refurbish the north carport.

The level of disrepair was parallel. Both carports needed repairs to the corrugated metals roofing and steel posts. Old paint was scraped. Rusted sections were ground out and patched. Missing bolts and other connectors were replaced. New materials were placed in areas too worn by time and deterioration.

Finally, primer and paint was brought forward and applied with the blessings and directions of Theresa Mason of W2W Painting. Theresa and W2W, a local residential and commercial painting company, have provided paints, supplies and expertise for many recent projects at GRACE.

In the closing scene, both groups gathered to admire the hard work, dedication and generosity of each other, and congratulate the newest Eagle Scouts.

GRACE Hoists a Mug to GCB

GRACE is the beneficiary of the passion, experience and entrepreneurial spirit embodied by brewer Gary Humble and his Grapevine Craft Brewery now under construction in Grapevine.

This week, May 13-19, is American Craft Beer Week—the most appropriate time, according to Gary Humble, president and CEO of Grapevine Craft Brewery, to celebrate the groundbreaking of his new place in downtown Grapevine and to launch his community funding campaign.

His kickstarter campaign will raise $50,000—the final funding needed for his startup capital. In addition the campaign will secure Gary’s promise of returning 5% of all future profits back to the community.

“Every quarter in perpetuity,” said Gary, “we are going to give back five percent of our profits to local community organizations that are making a difference and engaging in activities that make our community better.”

To illustrate his commitment, Gary will start by giving 5% of the campaign directly to GRACE. Gary’s commitment to his community has been honed over 15 years as a pastor with local churches including Gateway in Southlake and Cross Timbers in Argyle.

Gary’s dream of starting a craft brewery began with garage homebrew and a passion for craft beer.

“We are passionate about brewing great, local craft beer,” said Gary. “Our beers aren’t intended to slap you in the face with outlandish concoctions. But we hope that they become well crafted local classics that you’ll come back to time and time again.”

Your first chance to try out Gary’s masterpieces will be this Saturday, May18 at Grapevine’s Main Street Days.

“We will be pouring samples with the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau in the CVB Building on Main Street,” he said. ‘Try our beers!”

To see Gary tell the story of the Grapevine Craft Brewery and why he chose to support GRACE click Grapevine Craft Brewery.