We received this 2/17/2021 press release from our good friends, Rev. Rachel Baughman, of Oak Lawn United Methodist Church and Brenda Snitzer, Executive Director of our CoC member organization, The Stewpot, and we felt like it was important enough to publish in full, as it was written:
Needs exploded from placing 130 unsheltered neighbors at local hotels to 850 (and growing) at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. All of this work has been coordinated by an ad hoc collaboration of six Dallas organizations—The Salvation Army, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, The Bridge, Austin Street Center, The City of Dallas, Our Calling, and The Stewpot. With more people arriving every hour, partnerships and connections across the city have filled the gaps, solved for pandemic and blizzard complications while accomplishing more than they could with one lead organization or person.
Neither anointed nor commissioned to do this work, leaders from each of these organizations took it upon themselves to address needs, have recognized one another’s work and built trust. They are able to activate for such a time as this and lean into collaboration without any mind for competition between agencies.
Over 100 volunteers and staff have worked around the clock, administering rapid COVID tests, setting up cots, cleaning water from burst pipes, serving food and traveling to homeless camps to bring people to the Convention Center on treacherous roads in sub-freezing temperatures.
“It would be easy to be overcome with anxiety and fear in this time,” reflects Rev. Rachel Baughman, Senior Pastor at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, “but instead I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the abundant generosity flowing through our city.”
When Raising Cane’s donated thousands of chicken fingers, frozen roads made delivery challenging. Volunteers with four-wheel drive, mostly members of the Mayor’s Star Council formed the “Chicken Finger Cavalry,” picked up trays from four Cane’s locations that kept changing as electric grids powered on and off. Cavalry member, Erik Moss: “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven my car smelled so good.”
Tomorrow, a community of Muslim, Syrian refugees, organized by Imam Omar Suleiman, are firing up their kitchen to cook and deliver 850 meals.
The cumulative connections and deep trust of a broad coalition make it possible to navigate shifting complications. Without trust, collaboration, and generosity, hundreds of people would likely have died of exposure to the elements.
To give a sense of the Collaborative’s breadth, here is a portion of the organizations that have made shelter possible:
Food Generously Provided By:
Dallas Hope Charities
Stewpot Second Chance Café at the Bridge
Salvation Army
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers
Pizza Hut
Islamic Center of North America
White Rock United Methodist Church
Highland Park United Methodist Church
DeLeon Caterers
El Fenix
Muslim American Association
Ma’Ruf
Transportation Provided By:
Kessler Park United Methodist Church
White Rock United Methodist Church
First Presbyterian Church, Dallas
Grace United Methodist Church
Downtown Dallas Inc
The Connector
Union Gospel Mission
Financial Support:
North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
Faith Forward Dallas
Lyda Hill Foundation
Annette Simmons Foundation
Mike and Mary Terry Foundation
Muslim Aid USA
Islamic Circle of North America
The Hawn Foundation
Texas Methodist Foundation
Hundreds of individuals, churches and organizations
