Category Archives: Helping Others

Grapevine Office Depot to the rescue

Posted on March 31, 2020 by | Leave a comment

My WiFi recently died, and it seemed that it was going to be a complicated fix involving electricians and holes in the garage walls. And I’m a journalist…I NEED connectivity.

With all of the coffee houses, etc. being closed because of COVID, I was not in a good situation. No, I don’t have a hotspot, but after this, maybe I’ll get one.

I called my local Office Depot, located at 1317 State Highway 114 West in Grapevine (Phone number 817.251.0311), and they said I was welcome to come work there in the office furniture section using their WiFi. So, not only did I find a solution to my problem, but I also got to write and take care of everything using an awesome desk and a chair that I LOVED. Maybe when all this is over, I can get me one of those! 🙂

Long story short: THANK YOU to Manager Shane MacFawn and the rest of the the Office Depot staff! Yes, they are open and have many work-at-home solutions. For more information, visit https://www.officedepot.com/storelocator/tx/grapevine/office-depot-406/.

Office Depot

The Awesome Staff at the Grapevine Office Depot

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Posted in Community Heroes, Good News, Helping Others

Dallas Public Library hosts prom dress giveaway for students in need

Posted on March 4, 2019 by | Leave a comment

By Teresa Gubbins

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Photo courtesy of NBC 5

What to wear to the prom looms as one of the key decisions of one’s high school career — made even more difficult when you can’t afford the duds.

But Dallas high school students in need get a break thanks to the Fairy Tale Closet, a charitable initiative taking place at the Dallas Central Library on March 9-10.

Hundreds of gowns in various sizes and styles will be available as well as shoes, accessories, and a few suits and jackets for those who eschew the traditional gown.

This year’s giveaway also includes an LGBTQ+ centric event.

Read more from CultureMap Dallas…

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Posted in Charities, Dallas News, Great Sales!, Helping Others, Resources

Veterans Day Walk funds presented to Pearland groups

Posted on December 21, 2015 by | Leave a comment

PRESS RELEASE

This week, HIKE for Mental Health completed the distribution of the net proceeds from the Pearland Veterans Day Walk by presenting checks to two local Pearland organizations.

VFW Post 7109 received a total of $2,130 to support their efforts to become a more integral part of the Pearland community. Extra thanks to Jonathan, Maegan and many others who provided the BBQ lunch for the Veterans Day walkers!

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HIKE for Mental Health also presented $1,600 to Dawn Lawless and the team at Counseling Connections for Change, a nonprofit counseling center in Pearland. They will use the money to continue their community educations programs. Last year, they provided suicide prevention workshops for Pearland schools. Thanks for Dawn, Pam and Charlotte for help with this year’s walk.

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Nurse Rosa Klocksiem contacted HIKE for Mental Health several ago asking for help with materials for the unit’s patients, who include veterans as well as active duty service men and women suffering with PTSD and other inner challenges. They have raised money every Veterans Day since then to buy books, videos, pamphlets and other materials that Rosa needs.

These two distributions compete the disbursement of the net proceeds from the 2015 Pearland Veterans Day Walk, which began with sending much needed materials to the Behavioral Health floor of the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, TX, last week.

After the most recent materials arrived, Rosa sent the following note:

Dear Leo,

Some more packages arrived and I am sending you a photo of active duty staff that I am honored to work with. The ward is a locked unit for inpatient care to provide safety and structure for warriors in behavioral health crisis. All your donations help us to serve them. We would not have those therapeutic books to offer if it was not for you and your volunteers. Thank you so much!

With Utmost Respect and Appreciation,
Rosa

We extend our thanks to the walkers, donors and sponsors, including MHI Compressor Corporation, Marvin Monk, the City of Pearland, Pearland City Councilman Tony Carbone, Pearland City Councilman Derrick Reed, Pearland City Councilman Gary Moore, Pearland City Councilman Keith Ordeneaux, Pearland City Councilman Greg Hill, Cooling Tower Depot, H-E-B, Glen & Linda Rider, Pearland Democrats, Nancy Kozanecki, The Ivy District, David L. Smith Realty/The Legacy Group, Stacy Adams, Buck Stevens, Matt Sebesta, Gringo’s Tex-Mex, and Mike’s Tri City Icehouse. We also thank the Kolache Shoppe and Maine-ly Sandwiches for providing snacks for our volunteers and exhibitors.

We are already starting to plan the 2016 walk. If you are interested in helping, please contact Leo at leo.walker@hikeformentalhealth.org or call 603 801-5662.

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Posted in Helping Others, Mental Health, Pearland, Pearland Proud!, Uncategorized, Veterans

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Pearland Police Officer’s Association assists holiday food drive

Posted on December 18, 2015 by | Leave a comment

By Stacey Glaesmann

PPOAChristian Helping Hands (CHH) Holiday Food Drive is well underway.

On Tuesday (Dec. 8), the Pearland Police Officer’s Association (PPOA) donated 671 lbs. of food to the pantry!

The PPOA is also challenging local Pearland businesses to match the donation so that Christian Helping Hands has the food it needs to provide for local families this holiday season.

Items may be dropped off at the CHH center, located at 3402 Swensen Drive, at the corner of Old Alvin Road (across the street from Alexander Middle School), Mondays through Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Items may also be purchased at participating Kroger stores with red barrels, indicating that donations will go to Christian Helping Hands, or at the HEB Plus store, located at 2805 Business Center Dr.

Christian Helping Hands is a local food pantry assisting the needy in times of emergency. CHH has no paid staff and has been in operation since 1984, when it was established as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

For more information, please call CHH at (281) 485-9776.

To learn more about the PPOA, visit PearlandPOA.org.

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Posted in Helping Others, Pearland, Pearland Journal, Pearland Police Dept., Uncategorized

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H-E-B celebrates 10th annual Feast of Sharing

Posted on December 3, 2015 by | Leave a comment
PRESS RELEASE

To celebrate the holiday season and H-E-B’s Spirit of Giving, H-E-B is sponsoring its 10th annual Feast of Sharing celebration in Houston from December 7-11. For an entire week, hundreds of Partners (employees) from H-E-B stores in the Houston-area will serve food and volunteer at area-nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits include:

• Houston – Kids Meals (Dec. 9), Jewish Community Center (Dec. 10), Interfaith Ministries Meals on Wheels (Dec. 11)

• Pearland – Pearland Senior Center (Dec. 8)

• Lake Jackson – Lake Jackson Senior Center (Dec. 9)

• Huntsville – Senior Center of Walker County (Dec. 10), Good Shepherd Mission (Dec. 11)

• Angleton – Angleton Senior Center at Calvary Baptist Church (Dec. 10)

• Alvin – Alvin Senior Center (Dec. 11)

• Bryan – Twin City Mission (Dec. 7)

“Feast of Sharing is a key component in H-E-B’s year-round effort to combat hunger throughout Texas and Mexico,” said Winell Herron, group vice president of public affairs, diversity and environmental affairs. “It is one of the many ways H-E-B takes an active role in local communities and truly sets an example as to what our Spirit of Giving philosophy stands for. Each year, we look forward to serving these communities and expressing our gratitude by giving back to our customers and their families during the holiday season.”

H-E-B’s commitment and involvement in the community has been recognized as an important part of the way the company does business. The Feast of Sharing tradition began in 1988, and H-E-B’s holiday dinner program has grown to serve more than 250,000 meals in 32 locations throughout Texas and Mexico.

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Posted in HEB, Helping Others, Holidays, Uncategorized

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FUMC Pearland, Hilton Garden Inn team up to help others

Posted on December 3, 2015 by | Leave a comment
PRESS RELEASE

565609ef354ae.imageAt FUMC Pearland, we are committed to giving back to our community. We are blessed to share with organizations that feel the same way. In October, we were able to partner with the Hilton Garden Inn as the hotel chain observed their Month of Giving. The hotel General Manager, Gaylynn Naiser, contacted us to see what they could do to assist us in one of our many mission and outreach projects.

Naiser stated “We wanted to do something where the entire hotel staff could participate. We contacted FUMC Pearland, and were told what they would be doing in December. For some of our staff, it was probably the first time they had actually worked on a project like this where the benefit was entirely for someone outside of their circle of acquaintances. It was a very positive experience for all of us. There is no limit to what we can do when we all work together!”

In December, the church will take a group of volunteers to Loaves and Fishes, a soup kitchen in the Houston area to prepare and serve food and provide some desperately needed necessities for displaced individuals. The hotel staff prepared and donated over 200 hygiene bags (shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste, band-aids, lotion and other items) to for us to distribute to homeless individuals. We appreciate their support, and we look forward to working with the Hilton Garden Inn and other organizations in our goal to reach out to all in our community.

For more information about FUMC Pearland, go to fumcpearland.org.

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Posted in Helping Others, Holidays, Pearland, Uncategorized

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Pearland Neighborhood Center helping to ‘Share Your Holidays’

Posted on November 30, 2015 by | Leave a comment

The Pearland Neighborhood Center will be participating again in one of Houston’s most successful food drives, “Share Your Holidays,” on Friday, Dec. 4, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. There are many areas to volunteer for this major and most rewarding event. This invitation to participate goes out to the city, businesses, service clubs, churches, schools, families and individuals.

At the food drive, the mood is festive with music from area choirs. Santa Clause will be greeting children and volunteers will be working together.

The need is serious, especially during these tough economic times. Over 45,000 pounds of food collected last year met the needs of Pearland’s underprivileged citizens during the holiday season and stocked the shelves of the Pearland Neighborhood Center’s food pantry for several months.

For more information, visit PNCTexas.com.

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Posted in Call to Action, Helping Others, Holidays, Pearland, Pearland Neighborhood Center, Uncategorized

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Fourth annual Thanksgiving Event provides dinner for 500 families across Houston

Posted on November 27, 2015 by | Leave a comment

By Stacey Glaesmann

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Officer Garza with the owners of the Houston Aces

The fourth annual Houston Aces, AutoNation Nissan, Pasadena Police Department and Latino Peace Officers Association Thanksgiving Dinner Event was held on Nov. 23, with delivery on Nov. 24. 

William Brumbaugh with The Houston Aces and David Tong with AutoNation Nissan have coordinated with sponsors throughout the Harris and Fort Bend Counties to provide food and services for 500 families this holiday season.

The Thanksgiving Dinner Event is a community effort with a purpose to provide food for kids and their families during Thanksgiving as well as health services and sports education and training. The Event took place at AutoNation Nissan, 25550 Kingsland Blvd. in Katy.

Officer David Garza, with the Pasadena Police Department and the Latino Peace Officer’s Association, and David Tong, with AutoNation Nissan Katy, founded the Event in 2012. It started with just 50 dinners. In 2013, The Houston Aces joined the cause and the event has exploded.

This year’s event also included services provided by Smile 4 Texas Dental Center. The services, including dental exams, x-rays and oral cancer screenings, were provided at no charge for kids and their families who attended.

In addition, The Houston Aces Women’s Soccer Team hosted a free Soccer Day Camp with their top players and coaching staff. The event was also the launch of the Christmas toy drive, which will be donated to kids at local hospitals during Christmas along with a visit from Santa.

Garza and volunteers delivered 100 dinners to residents of several housing projects run by The Bridge Over Troubled Waters on Tuesday (Nov. 24). Volunteers from all over the area, including students from Pasadena High School and children of adult volunteers, assembled the dinners on Monday evening (Nov. 23).

“To me, watching my kids and the children of others help was worth this whole thing,” said Garza. “The world can be so cold. Doing this brings us back to reality, which is people helping people.”

The Houston Aces, AutoNation Nissan, Pasadena Police Department, and Latino Peace Officers Association partnered with Capt. Mike Coleman of the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office, Smile 4 Texas Dental Center, Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Bend Sheriff’s Office, Houston Police Department, Katy Police Department, 104 KRBE, Mega TV, Wal-Mart, Raising Cane’s, Sports Authority, OSM, Secure Mortgage, Dr. Pepper and High 5 Marketing to share and support this great cause.

To learn more about The Bridge Over Troubled Waters, visit TBOTW.org.

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Posted in First Responders, Helping Others, Holidays, Pasadena, Uncategorized

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Drink Station employees volunteer their time to help community

Posted on November 12, 2015 by | Leave a comment

PRESS RELEASE

TDSThis holiday season, The Drink Station’s employees are volunteering their culinary skills and cheerful dispositions to assist the surrounding communities with meal prep. Employees at both the Pearland and League City stations will be volunteering to assist elderly and/or disabled members of their communities by offering to dice, slice, chop, peel, or do whatever is needed to make the holidays a little easier for those who may need a little assistance.

The Drink Station will accept requests to prep starting now and will take requests on a first-come, first-served basis. The delivery of ingredients to The Drink Station will be arranged on an individual basis and a local company may offer pickup service for those who are unable to drive. The volunteer initiative was created in an effort to encourage The Drink Station’s employees to find value in team and community building.

Community members wanting to donate prepped ingredients to local non-profits who may be preparing full meals may drop items such as onions, celery, bell peppers and potatoes off at The Drink Station locations.

Prep days will take place on November 23 and 24 for Thanksgiving.

Those interested in receiving assistance may send a request to info@thedrinkstation.com. The Drink Station is a locally owned and operated café founded in Pearland in 2008 and now serves League City with its second location since 2014.

The Pearland location is at 8209 W. Broadway Ste. #103 and the League City Station is located at 6555 S Shore Blvd., Ste. E.

More information and updates will be posted to www.thedrinkstation.com as well as to social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

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Posted in Helping Others, Holidays, Pearland

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Pearland comes together to help resident (KTRK)

Posted on November 7, 2015 by | Leave a comment
By Tracy Clemons (KTRK)
Screen Shot 2015-11-07 at 3.15.22 PMElizabeth Christian is no stranger to high summertime electric bills.
“Because of living in a mobile home, my bills ran in the beginning of the summer time about $200 anywhere up to $400 a month,” she says.But this year, she fell behind a couple of months and few hundred bucks. She went to a local charity for help.

“I told them that if they could extend four or five days so Neighborhood Centers could get the payment to them that they would have the payment,” Christian said.

By time the payment got to her power provider, the lights were off, and the permit and inspection process to get them back on was going to cost hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars that she didn’t have.

After weeks in the dark, she reached out to our Houston Community Newspapers partner the Pearland Journal. One Facebook post later, her community stepped up to help.

“I went over there and found out what we needed to do, and she needed a city permit to go out there and get her power turned back on,” says James Warfield. “So we got the permit squared away and made all the corrections that were needed to make with her panel to get it turned back on.”

Warfield is one of the co-owners of Warfield Electric. He says for a regular customer, the job he performed for Christian would have cost $300-$600. But he did it pro-bono, and would do it again.

“This community is just a great community and i felt like giving back. We were raised to give back and it just feels really good to do something for somebody who really needs help.”

Warfield gave her what she needed to get the lights back on, and fellow Pearland resident CenterPoint Regional Manager Jason Fabre sped the process along. The The lights were back on by noon the same day.

“I’m truly blessed,” she says.

And the lights are on with a new provider.

Watch video here. 

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Posted in Helping Others, Pearland, Pearland Proud!

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