Impacting Generations One Step At a Time

By Stacey Duncan

As an eighteen-year-old college freshman, she had it all: a new red Mustang for graduation, the latest designer clothes, and some great friends . . . when suddenly she discovered she might be pregnant.

What would she do?  How would she find help, information, and a caring, listening ear?   A friend told her about the Woman to Woman Pregnancy Resource Center, a clinic that offers free pregnancy testing and information on all pregnancy options. Woman to Woman is an organization that offers practical assistance to women and their families facing unplanned pregnancies.  But Woman to Woman doesn’t only serve pregnant women, it also offers services like STD testing, relationship education, and peer counseling at no charge.

Woman to Woman is a nonprofit organization supported through monetary and material donations.  New and gently used household items, furniture, and clothing are donated and sold through the Twice as Nice Resale, located at 413 East Oak Street (at the corner of Bell and Oak) in Denton.

This year’s Walk for Life offers an opportunity to gather pledges and walk a short two mile distance to benefit this local organization that has been providing practical assistance to women in unplanned pregnancies since 1986. Multiple locations offer supporters a convenient location to walk and enjoy family-friendly activities.

If you would like to help Woman to Woman Pregnancy Resource impact generations by participating in the Walk for Life, pledge forms are available at Twice as Nice Resale after March 15th. The Walk for Life will be held Saturday, May 1st. If you have any questions, email info@dentonprc.org or call 940-383-3150.

Woman to Woman is impacting generations one step at a time – won’t you walk with us?

Mardi Gras Festival
On February 13th, Denton Rotary will be hosting there Fourth annual Mardi Gras Festival from 6-10 pm at the Denton Civic Center.  The event will have Cajun food, jugglers, dancers, games, silent auction, prizes, and more!  Tickets are $35 at the door which includes game tickets and food/beverage tickets. The proceeds will benefit local charities, Interfaith Ministries and Salvation Army. For more information, go to www.mardigrasdentonrotary.com

If You LOVE Chocolate
The Denton Chocolate Festival, supporting CASA of Denton County will be held February 7th, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.  Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children.

Woman to Woman Pregnancy Resource Center
“We endeavor to empower women to make wise life choices through education and truth.”  All services are confidential and offered at no charge.  Services provided:  general information regarding pregnancy & reproductive health; on-site nurse for medical questions on health, reproduction, and pregnancy;  peer counseling;  pregnancy testing;  STD referral classes and classes on childbirth.

www.adoptaussoldier.org
To honor active US military personnel, Adopt A U.S. Soldier is a volunteer-based organization that connects supportive Americans with deployed soldiers and offers a channel by which to communicate  encouragement and express gratitude to the brave men and women serving our nation.

Sign up to “adopt” a soldier, and you will receive the mail and email addresses for a soldier.  These soldiers are looking for notes and/or letters, and a bit of encouragement from home.   Many have very little family and some have none, so they are not as fortunate to receive news and well wishes, as do other soldiers with family back home. Please visit the site, and adopt a soldier – they appreciate and love the letters more than we will ever know.

Vision Ministry
Vision Ministry is an outreach program provided by Denton Bible Church that ministers to others by going out into the communities to reach people where they are.  Clothing giveaways take place by going out to apartment complexes or mobile home parks and knocking on doors.  While the adults are looking through the clothes, Vision Ministry gathers the children and tells them a bible story.  It is so wonderful to see their eyes light up when they hear about Jesus and what he did for them. Donations of food, clothing, and furniture may be made at the Vision office at 107 Maple Street in Denton. For more information, contact Al Jacobson at 940 387 8230.

Salvation Army Thanksgiving Dinner
More than 2,000 people will share a free, traditional Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings at the metroplex area Salvation Army homeless shelters. This will include homeless individuals and families that cannot afford to have a Thanksgiving-style meal at home. The meals will include turkey, dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes, yams, fresh rolls, and pumpkin pie. In The Salvation Army’s tradition, there will be festive decorations and place settings, to enhance the dignity of those who come for a meal, and volunteers will serve all participants at their tables.  You can participate on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009 from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, at the Salvation Army office, 1508 E. McKinney Street in Denton.

Angel Tree
Through the ever-popular Angel Tree program, The Salvation Army will collect hundreds of thousands of donated Christmas gifts to distribute to children and senior citizens. Local children’s names will be available to select from the tree.  The selection will include their list of a wish item, a need item and a clothing item, and the gifts will be collected at Golden Triangle Mall from Friday, November 13 until Sunday, December 13.  About 89 percent of recipients will be children and 11  percent will be senior citizens and disabled adults.  Please consider adding an extra “angel” to your tree this Christmas.

Christmas For Our Troops
Let our troops know we care!  That is the Christmas wish of Joan Anderson and her husband Jerry.  The two of them carry that blissful burden every week of the year.  For more than 18 months they have sent soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan requested want and need items.

Their list comes from Defenders of Freedom, and Joan and Jerry take as many as they possibly can. The names come consistently and, while using their own finances,  they want show these American Troops that “we are behind them and we thank them.”

They can use your help, especially for holiday giving.  You can donate any of the typical needed items: socks, CD’s, DVD’s, hygiene items, hand and feet warmers, warm gloves, snacks, international calling cards, or you can make a monetary donation that may help with the shipping and boxing of the items.

Make our country’s defenders part of your holiday, by being a part of a soldier’s Christmas. Contact Joan and Jerry at:  helpingoursoldiers@yahoo.com or 940-484-7646.

Salvation Army Annual Luncheon
September 1, from 11:30 am – 1:00 pm • Denton Country Club
“Faces in the Crowd” featuring community activist Bernice Washington as the keynote speaker. Silent Auction begins at 11 am. 940-566-3800.

Third Annual Heroes Helping BBQ Cook-Off
September 11, Kick-Off Party and Concert
Grapevine Bass Pro Shop
Raising money to build a barrier-free camp, Camp Craig Allen in North Texas, for physically disabled kids and adults. Be a BBQ team, eat BBQ samples, enjoy live bands, auctions, kid’s activities, and see wheelchair sports! www.campcraigallen.org

2009 Communities Civic League Charity Golf Classic
October 27 • Trophy Club Country Club
Proceeds from the event go to Argyle Volunteer Fire Department and the needs of the community. Kay Hammer at 972-839-2449,
or visit www.cclargyle.org.

Sixth Annual Angel’s Kiss Gala
September 26. 5:30 pm – 11:30 pm • The Speedway Club
Benefits the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation. The event will include cocktails, dinner, silent and live auctions, Texas Hold’em Poker, and dancing to the High Definition band. Contact the Bolingers at 940-595-1800 or go to www.vbftexas.com.

On September 19, 2009, the stars will be shining bright in the Silver Eagle Suite of the University of North Texas, as Health Services of North Texas presents “Elton John,” “The Beatles,” “Cher,” “Elvis,” and “Roy Orbison” at their annual Hearts and Heroes Gala. These award-winning celebrity impersonators will provide a high-energy rock and roll show which will—along with dinner and dancing—leave patrons with a song in their hearts and stars in their eyes!

But as much fun as Hearts and Heroes offers to participants each year, Agency Executive Director Dr. Ron Aldridge reminds us that there is a serious side to all of this revelry. He explains that the Gala serves as the primary fundraiser for Health Services of North Texas (HSNT), which offers medical care and support services for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS in Denton, Collin, Hunt, Rockwall, and Kaufman Counties. In addition, HSNT offers guardianship care for those persons in Denton County who are unable to manage their medical and life affairs.

These critical care services lead Mandy McKInley, Gala Marketing Coordinator, to point out that you can feel confident about the direct help you are providing to your community through attending the party, offering sponsorship dollars, or donating a service or good to the auction.

The Hearts & Heroes Gala performs another vital role as well, that of honoring outstanding citizens and organizations for their leadership, philanthropy, and community service. This year’s honorees are Charlye Heggins, Pamela and Dale Kimble, Phil Wentworth, Christina and Rudy Andrea, and Star Children’s Charity. Exemplifying the best of giving back from our blessings, these persons and organization inspire the staff, board members, and agency supporters in reaching for higher goals themselves.

Speaking of goals, Fern Bugg shares with us her personal objectives for Hearts and Heroes 2009: to have the most thrilling entertainment ever performed at the gala, a knockout lineup of silent and live auction items, and getting you a ticket before they are sold out. For more information about attending or supporting the gala, please call Fern at 940-368-0655. See you there!

DISD estimates that for the current school year 39% of enrollment live in poverty as defined by the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Providing these children with back-to-school essentials places additional financial hardship on their families. Over 8,240 children in DISD are qualified to receive assistance through the Apple Tree Project. It is only through the generosity of the Denton community that the needs of these children will be met, and Interfaith Ministries was able to assist over 879 of those students in August of 2008, our largest distribution yet!

Interfaith Ministries’ Apple Tree Back-to-School Project assists children from low-income families with essential items for back-to-school. Each child participating receives a complete set of school supplies, a backpack, two new sets of school clothes, and a new pair of shoes, as funds allow. Apple Tree makes an annual estimated economic impact of over $100,000 in the Denton community. The goal for the upcoming school year is to provide at least 1,000 DISD children with back-to-school essentials. Contributing to the Apple Tree Project is an excellent investment in Denton’s most precious resource, its children. In order to fulfill this larger distribution in 2009, we need everyone to be involved. Volunteers (especially bi-lingual) are needed to assist in taking applications, and as always, donations are greatly needed in order for this project to prosper.

Visit www.ifmdenton.org to learn how you can support The Apple Tree Project, view a list of Host Sites where “apples” are available for adoption, contribute to this program using PayPal, or call 940-566-5927.

Interfaith Ministries of Denton, Inc. seeks to provide emergency basic needs assistance to the people of northern Denton County with the goal of helping those people to become self-sufficient.