We are thrilled to invite you to our upcoming GRACE Gifting Party, a special prelude to the GRACE “angels among us” Gala. Mark your calendars for an exciting evening on Wednesday, August 28th, from 6pm to 8pm at the Crush It! Sports Lounge in Grapevine. Invite friends, family and neighbors! Share this opportunity with local businesses! The gifting party promises to be a fun-filled evening of networking, and family fun with delicious food, engaging games, and a wonderful opportunity to help further the mission of GRACE in our community.

GRACE is asking all attendees to bring an item valued at $100 or more for our GRACE Gala auction as a ticket of admission to the Gifting Party. We encourage everyone to bring their best items that evening, contributing to the large assortment of auction items for our silent and live auctions. Our auction catalog is known for showcasing a variety of unique or experience-based items such as vacation trips, hotel stays, gift certificates, and so much more! Your generous contributions will help GRACE raise funds to support the community of Grapevine and the surrounding areas.

Need some ideas for what to donate to the Gifting Party event? Over the years, many supporters have brought themed baskets, event tickets, golf packages, gift cards, wine, whiskey donations and more. This year, GRACE is excited to be collaborating with Classic Wine to assist in gathering wonderful wines for our 2024 GRACE Gala Auction! Classic has hand selected a few of their favorite wines and is offering them to purchase as your items to donate and entry to the Gifting Party.

If you would like to have wine be your donation to entry for the GRACE Gifting Party, Go to https://shop.classicwine.com/shop/grace-gifting-party and make your purchase! To purchase wine for the Gifting Party on August 28th, please place your order by MONDAY, AUGUST 19th. Classic Wine is generously offering complimentary delivery of the wine to the Gifting Party for attendees, but please do not worry if you don’t make that deadline, as Classic will take any wines ordered after August 19 and will deliver them to GRACE directly as a donation!

We hope you, your friends and your family join us on August 28th at Crush It! Sports Lounge. The venue is located at 401 W State Hwy 114, Grapevine, TX 76051. Crush It! Sports Lounge is DFW’s first interactive sports and social lounge and is excited to host the GRACE Gala Gifting Party. They have been a longstanding and active supporter of GRACE and a partner of the GRACE Gala!

GRACE is so appreciative to everyone who supports the mission of GRACE, and we are excited for this year’s Gala! We look forward to seeing you at the GRACE Gala Gifting Party on August 28th! Please RSVP your attendance HERE.

For questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Erica Baker at ebaker@GRACEGrapevine.org

You may remember learning about our Take One, Leave One— or “TOLO” — boxes last December. These big blue boxes, stationed at three GRACE locations, are one of the ways in which GRACE combats food insecurity in our community. The TOLO boxes offer individuals and families immediate access to food outside of GRACE Food Pantry operating hours.

Since their introduction, we’ve had businesses, families, and community groups adopt these boxes. Each group has done an amazing job maintaining the TOLO boxes, keeping them well stocked and cared for, and ensuring they remain viable resources for our community!

As we head into the heart of summer, we’re looking for volunteers to adopt these boxes!

What does adopting a TOLO Box entail? Here’s what to expect:

• These TOLO boxes are entirely volunteer-driven
• Individuals, groups, or businesses can ‘adopt’ a box for a one month period*
• The adopting group will keep the box stocked and maintained, checking on the box at least once a week

These TOLO boxes are the perfect opportunity for volunteers to curate a giving back experience that is unique to them. And with school right around the corner, these boxes present the perfect opportunity for students to earn volunteer hours in a way that accommodates their busy schedules!

If you are looking to adopt, we have availability at all sites starting in August. Please reach out to the GRACE Volunteer Coordinator at Volunteer@GRACEgrapevine.org for more information or to fill out an application and get started!

*Timeline flexible— reach out to Volunteer@GRACEgrapevine.org to coordinate/ for more details.

In conjunction with Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District, Grapevine Women’s Division, the local community, and other non-profit organizations and businesses, GRACE collaborates together to ensure a successful school year for parents and their children. The annual GCISD Back-to-School Fair is a collective effort that displays community engagement and provides a broad spectrum of resources to help foster family connections and local ties that play a vital role in students’ academic path.

Gearing up for a new academic year can present some financial challenges for many families. As we enter the 2024-2025 school year, GRACE celebrates the concerted efforts of another successful event together!

All children registered for the fair received school supplies from the Grapevine Women’s Division and GRACE supported the effort by providing back to school clothing to help each child start the year fully prepared! These services not only help families save monetarily but also ensure that students begin the school year with all the necessary tools for success.

GRACE continues this effort even after the fair by serving families throughout the year with clothing and backpacks filled with supplies, as needed. Organizations like Pegasus Logistics, Quench USA, Methodist Hospital, White’s Chapel Methodist Church, and more assist GRACE with being able to serve close to 1000 children each year as we begin to move through the school year.

We cannot achieve this without the efforts of volunteer groups, and this year proves no different. We echo this praise year after year because without the commitment and selfless support from individuals within the community, assistance to so many would not be possible. GRACE is grateful for services rendered by NCL Southlake, SFCO, YMSL Southlake, and the Colleyville Heritage Basketball team; all of whom, with their hard work and unwavering dedication, helped carry and transport heavy boxes with pre-packaged items for the Back-to-School Fair. Their willingness to provide aid with physically demanding tasks is immeasurable and deeply appreciated. In addition, new and returning volunteers participated in handing out clothing packets, shoes, undergarments, and socks with compassion. Their warm and positive approach to serving those in need highlights their generosity. Volunteers ensure numerous households are served with dignity and respect during these trying times. Thanks to everyone who made this event and the continued efforts of GRACE to serve families in need possible. What a great start to what we know will be a great school year!

What an accomplishment we celebrated this summer! GRACE’s Feed Our Kids summer lunch program just completed its 20th year of serving our community! Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers that made this happen. Whether you’re affiliated with a civic or philanthropic organization, a local business, a church, or even just you and your family or friend group…YOU helped served 36,104 lunches over an 11 week period across six different sites in Grapevine! AMAZING!

The excitement on the faces of our local children and their families when they arrived for the lunch hour is something special to witness. Our volunteers thought of everything! From face painting; balloon animals; setting up tables of books for all ages to take home; and even a wonderful week of Litter Awareness that ended with surprise giveaways and a “Pledge to do your part and put trash where it belong.” These special touches make such a difference in the lives of our kids and families.

Summer 2024 also celebrated the completion of year nine for our GRACE Grocery Giveaway that was held once a week (at two different locations simultaneously) throughout the summer with partnership with Tarrant Area Food Bank. This summer alone, we served 1,026 households and 4,828 individuals.

GRACE Grocery Giveaway volunteers worked tirelessly setting up and hosting Famers Market style grocery shopping that included fresh produce, meats, dairy products and canned goods. This special program brings fresh, healthy food choices to our community where it’s most difficult to access. We’d also like to share our appreciation for White’s Chapel Mobile Market that partnered with us to bring three additional market days to our community on Saturday mornings!

Our sincerest appreciation goes out to our surrounding community as well. To our six site hosts that allows us to serve hundreds of lunches on their property to the dozens of area restaurants that often sacrifice their own clientele to meet the demands of our lunch program! Thank you!

The success of GRACE and its mission is measured by you, our volunteers and community supporters. Thank you for your continuous support of our Seasonal Programs. Before we realize it, Christmas Cottage will be ramping up for another season. For ways to participate, please contact Jina Walker, Chief Programs Officer at jwalker@GRACEGrapevine.org