Getting to know them, getting to know all about them...

Posted by Pat Reimann, Christmas Assistance Coordinator

If you have ever “adopted” an Angel tag from one of our Angel trees - in your workplace or at a mall - you may have wondered how the name of that child ended up on the tag. Here is how it came to be that we asked you to provide eight year old “Cara” with a coat, a Hannah Montana game, and other gifts. (To protect confidentiality this is a composite of a typical family receiving Christmas assistance)
Cara is an eight year old girl. She lives in Dallas County with her mom, dad, and 3 year old brother. She attends a school near one of The Salvation Army Corps Community Centers. Her dad, Daniel, works in a warehouse; and her mom, Lydia, works part time cleaning houses. Some days her little brother Danny is a huge pest, other days she loves him to death – most days both are true simultaneously.

A few weeks ago the counselor at Cara’s school was invited to send some families to the nearest Salvation Army center to apply for Christmas assistance. As a result, the counselor sent home a “referral appointment slip” for Lydia to go to the Salvation Army last Tuesday morning at 10 AM. The form outlined the documents and other information Lydia should bring with her. On that morning Lydia was seated with other mothers at one side of the Salvation Army center’s gymnasium, until her name was called.

At 10:30 “Trina” asked Lydia to come to her interview station. After a few minutes of introduction and explanation of the process, Trina began to fill out the application form. She looked at Lydia’s ID, and filled in the name, address, phone number and other basic information.

Then it was time to dig into the details of Daniel and Lydia’s finances. Trina learned that Daniel worked in a warehouse and made $11/hour; and that Lydia had a part time cleaning job that brought in $50/day for about 3 days each week. A particular challenge for the family at this time of year is that the business Daniel works for is seasonal in nature. He works full time in the spring and early summer, but his hours are often shorter in the fall and winter. At best, the family income is around $2,400/month. This puts them well over the Federal Poverty Guideline for a family of their size - $1837/mo - which means they are not eligible for many government benefit programs.

Trina then asked Lydia to do her best to document their household expenses.

• Lydia pays a neighbor lady $15 a day to take care of Danny on the days that she is working.

• The family spends $162 each month for monthly bus passes. They save quite a bit since they don’t have the costs of a car payment, insurance, gas, etc.; but it does limit their employment opportunities since they can only work at places on a bus or train line, and on schedules that fit with public transportation.

• Lydia estimates that she spends around $600 each month at the grocery store. This means she is a very careful shopper, since this is less than the amount expected for a family of that size ($668/mo to $755/mo).

• As for most families, the largest expense is housing; rent/mortgage plus essential utilities such as electric, water, gas, etc. Rent used to be a little lower, but as Danny has gotten older they felt they needed to have a three bedroom apartment so he had his own room rather than sleeping in the living room. For Lydia’s family these expenses are now $1,100/mo. (this is over 40% of their budget, which puts them in a hardship category)

• Neither Daniel nor Lydia’s employers provide health insurance, so the family tries to rely on free clinics or the county ER (emergency room). However, Danny has issues with asthma and they often spend over $350/month on care and medications.

Doing the math on income and expenses Trina determines that Lydia’s family is truly in need; so she gets to go to the next step; the fun step – being one of Santa’s elves who makes “the list”. Young Danny needs a twin comforter for his new bedroom; and he’s got a real fixation on Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story. Cara has grown like a little weed in the past two years and really, really needs a new coat; and she is a huge Hannah Montana fan. Trina also enters information on all their clothing sizes, in hopes that an Angel sponsor will provide some of those needs as well. Danny is constantly running around and is so hard on his shoes and socks. Trina’s school wants kids to be in khaki and navy uniforms.

And that is how it came to be that you saw Cara’s tag hanging on an Angel Tree, asking for a coat and a Hannah Montana game. But it didn’t end there. Before Lydia left, Trina gave her some handouts about other programs at the Salvation Army center – after school tutoring, summer day camp, Sunday School, a soccer team, and a planned music and performing arts program.

'tis the season....already??

Hi! I’m Pat Reimann, Christmas Assistance Coordinator for The Salvation Army DFW Metro Command. This is the first of several blogs I’ll be posting throughout the season. Is there anything you’ve always wanted to know about our Christmas program? Post a comment, and I’ll try to include it in future posts.


Just a few weeks ago we were still “enjoying” summer’s heat, and sticky humidity - challenging the notion of the “official” start of fall. Even so, The Salvation Army DFW Christmas Assistance Program jumped ahead into the deep end of everybody’s favorite winter holiday. At both the Dallas and Ft. Worth Christmas Centers, over 50 Salvation Army officers, staff and volunteers came together for training sessions on how to register an expected 18,000 families for Christmas assistance through the Angel Tree program and toy drives.

Trainees learned how to assess each individual applicant’s eligibility. Many also attended computer lab sessions to learn how to enter data so that donors would have the best and most accurate possible information on each child’s or senior’s sizes, needs, and wishes on each Angel Tree tag. Everybody received application forms, information sheets, and a DVD about Salvation Army programs that can be shown in their waiting areas. All of this training and preparation began to pay off on Monday, September 27; when the first families arrived at one of 15 Salvation Army centers to apply for Christmas assistance. This family registration effort will wrap up on November 5th.

Meanwhile, in the background, we have already been organizing and planning with the tens of thousands of generous donors who will be buying gifts for nearly 60,000 children and special care adults. We are finalizing agreements with ten local malls who will allow their shoppers to adopt Angels at one of our trees. Numerous companies, churches, schools and other organizations have already committed to adopting Angels, and we hope to enlist many, many more. Early bird volunteers are signing up to do the “heavy lifting” of receiving, sorting, and organizing gift bags; and some have even signed up for “special duty” as bell ringers in order to have an impact far beyond the Christmas season.

This behind the scenes blogger is ready to share with you all kinds of previously unknown information:

• How does a family qualify for Christmas Assistance (and how would we know if a family is already getting help from another charity)?

• How does a family get their gifts – are they delivered to the family, and who does that?

• What is expected from groups or individuals who adopt Angels, what does it cost to adopt an Angel?

• What can you do to help the effort? (and what kind of help has the biggest impact?)

• Do you have any other questions? – Please leave a comment, and we’ll try to include an answer in future blog posts.
Check in on this blog regularly for new updates, new information, and the “secrets” behind The Salvation Army’s DFW Christmas Assistance program.

Goo Goo Dolls Fans Donate Food

If you've been to a Goo Goo Dolls concert, then you know they encourage their fans to "Give a Little Bit" to the less fortunate by collecting food donations before their shows.

Dallas fans arrive with food donations.

On Saturday, members of the Goo Goo Dolls Street Team (super-dedicated fan club members), collected food items for The Salvation Army at Superpages.com Arena in Dallas. Street Team members came from Austin, San Antonio, Lubbock, and even New York!

Lt. Patrick Jones with Goo Goo Dolls Street Team.

And there was an incentive for concert goers to donate: The person who gave the most food would get to meet the band before the show. That honor went to C.J. from San Antonio for 512 food items.

C.J. made sure she looked her best before she met the band.

Thank you Goo Goo Dolls fans for your compassion. YOU ROCK!

Lt. Patrick Jones puts food into boxes.

Backpacks for Back-to-School!

Thank you Office Depot for donating 300 backpacks and school supplies.

We will distribute them to local boys and girls.

We appreciate your generosity and commitment to education!





PHOTO: Lt. Patrick Jones with Zach Israel, one of the recipients of a donated backpack.

Former Pro-Football Players Brave the Heat to Raise Funds

What sport are former pro-football players more passionate about than any other?

Football? Nope. Try golf.


That's why a whole passel of them turned out at the Dallas Cowboys Golf Course on Tuesday to play in the 100-degree heat. OK, so it was 98 degrees. It was still hot.

Five-time Super Bowl winner Charles Haley enlisted his friends to play in a scramble to benefit The Salvation Army's Cedar Crest Community Center in Oak Cliff.

Players included Tim Brown (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), John Randle (Minnesota Vikings), Barry Foster (Pittsburgh Steelers), and former Dallas Cowboys Chad Hennings, Rocket Ismail, Preston Pearson, Rayfield Wright, and Larry Brown, just to name a few. Ronnie Lott (San Francisco 49ers) flew in all the way from San Francisco to participate!

Dallas Cowboys greats Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Darren Woodson, Jay Novacek, and Russell Maryland also made guest appearances.

Thanks so much to Charles for enlisting the help of his friends and to Albertsons for sponsoring the event!

Ed "Too Tall" Jones: "It's a great cause. That's why, anything I can do to support it, that's what I want to do. They do many wonderful things."

Darren Woodson with Sgt. Juanita Hinkle. Woodson said: "I grew up in the projects in Phoenix and The Salvation Army was always part of my life. We were attached at the hip. ... No matter if times were good or bad, they were always there to help."

SEE MORE PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK!

350 backpacks to children

The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary in Dallas distributed backpacks of school supplies to 350 children being served by 12 Salvation Army centers in the DFW Metroplex.

 Each backpack will contain paper, crayons, color pencils, water colors, a spiral notebook, glue, scissors, pencils, glue sticks, and a supply box!

Women's Auxiliary President, Barbara Charlton, distributes backpacks.

Women's Auxiliary President, Barbara Charlton, distributes backpacks.

Bianca from The Salvation Army in Garland with Captain Michele Matthews

July Message

Dear Friends,


We hope you enjoyed reading last month’s inaugural blog post!



Although July frequently brings vacation plans, throughout the Metroplex Command we continue to be quite busy. Please take a look at these wonderful stories and photos by clicking on the blog post titles below:

Summer Day Camp

Celebrating is Important

Fit for Life at The Salvation Army Cedar Crest Community Center

Save the Date – You don’t want to miss our Annual Luncheon:

Lemonade for Sale

If you would like to read additional stories, please visit The Salvation Army DFW blog: www.thesalvationarmydfw.blogspot.com

As always, you can follow us on Facebook at salvationarmydfw and Twitter at SalarmyDFW.

We hope that each and every one of you are staying cool this summer and are enjoying all the blessings that summer has to offer.

See you next month!

Warmly,

Captain Michele and Major Ward Matthews

Summer Day Camp

If you visit The Salvation Army Arlington Community Center you will hear the sound of music echoing through the hallways. This summer, they are offering music lessons each day for their summer day camp children.

If you are envisioning music tutorials taught by using chalk boards or studying sheet music for hours, you are wrong.

Forget teaching styles of the past; the center’s teaching technique is far from traditional.

The center has tuned into using technology to help teach music to their young clients.

Helping the children fine tune their music skills is Jeff Barrington, Salvation Army Arlington Community Center Music Director.

Barrington remarks on how his teaching method has changed in order to keep up with the times.

“Kids live in a high-tech world,” Barrington says. “We use Music Ace Maestro and Smart Board which are geared to teach children about music. It is a great interactive tool—gets children interested and makes learning fun,” Barrington said.

See photos of the children having fun…learning music with technology twist!

Save the Date

You will not want to miss this year's Doing the Most Good Luncheon.  This year our special guest speaker is Blake Mycoskie, CEO of Toms Shoes!

Visit our website for the Benefactor Agreement!

Lemonade for Sale!

"Lemonade for sale.... .50 cents per cup!"


When best friends Reghan Barnett and Rebecca Hill  heard about The Salvation Army's emergency food pantry depletion, they were eager to help.

With an entrepreneurial spirit, the girls set up a lemonade stand in their Lake Highlands neighborhood. And within 2 hours they raised $60!

"Some people even gave more than 50 cents when we told them the money was going to The Salvation Army," Reghan said.

Last Tuesday morning, they came by The Salvation Army DFW office to drop off their donation...

On behalf of The Salvation Army, thank you Reghan and Rebecca for your donation.

This will help us provide more food to people in need!

Reghan Barnett and Rebecca Hill met with Captain Michele Matthews, Salvation Army DFW leadership, and Beverly Pop, Salvation Army DFW Development Director.