Category: General

Plano-based Rent-A-Center, Inc., a rent-to-own industry leader, recently furnished 44 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, teaming up with Houston’s Tarantino Properties Inc., a management firm offering low-rent apartments to those displaced after Hurricane Harvey.

After assessing available apartments, Tarantino worked quickly to contact several companies for discounted furniture packages, a press release stated. When they called Rent-A-Center, corporate leaders offered to instead donate the furniture to help those hit hard by the flooding.

“We have furnished all the apartments to the point where they are now move-in ready so people can walk through the door with nothing but the clothes on their back,” stated Jonathan Parks, vice president of logistics and distribution for RAC. “As a former Houstonian, I am thrilled that we as a company are able to help in a dire time of need.”

Earlier this month, RAC also shipped two ocean containers with 40,000 bottles of water and much needed food and supplies to Puerto Rico to aid coworkers affected by Hurricane Maria. The ocean containers, which arrived last week, were distributed amongst all coworkers immediately to help meet their needs.

RAC also teamed up with Caribbean Shipping Services to support Hunger Fight, a nonprofit based in Florida that provides prepackaged, nutritionally balanced meals to those in need. RAC coworkers from Jacksonville, Fla., helped package the meals and load them on ocean containers heading to Puerto Rico. As of yesterday, about 30,000 packaged meals were en route.

Shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows and saws were the tools used in the gloved hands of student veteran leaders to build camaraderie, leadership skills, and teamwork. The city of Dallas and Equest hosted a select group from Student Veterans of America last Thursday for an afternoon of service work at Texas Horse Park in Dallas.

The 100 student veterans from throughout the U.S., from as far away as Hawaii, Washington and New Jersey, cleared trails, trimmed trees, installed a sensory riding course and other additional activities. The work was designed to support Equest’s upcoming fundraiser for its horses, Ridefest, as well as its ongoing therapeutic horsemanship programming.

The institute is training for student veterans pursuing degrees in schools across the country.

“Each of these students (has) demonstrated remarkable showmanship and community involvement,” stated Jared Lyon, SVA’s president and CEO, in a press release. “They have been recognized and hand-selected from 600,000 student veterans from our national organization and are visiting Dallas to develop their personal leadership ethos and shape the future of America.”

Equest, a non-profit that provides equine facilitated activities, therapies and counseling for children and adults with special needs, also offers a zero-cost veterans program and services.

“The goal of our Hooves for Heroes program is for our veterans to better adjust to civilian life and ultimately become leaders in the community. These student veterans not only improved the lives of our clients but also served as an inspiration for us all,” stated Jeff Hensley, director of clinical services and Hooves for Heroes, in the release.

Hooves aims to empower veterans and military families and provides a program to help them better cope with daily challenges and take charge of their civilian transitions and to assume new roles as civic leaders. Since it launched six years ago, Hooves has helped more than 800 veterans and military families.

One Love Fits All, an annual yoga fundraising event for Embody Love Movement, is 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at CenterPark Garden at NorthPark Center in Dallas. All donations received will go to Embody Love Movement programs for girls and women.

Embody Love Movement is an international women’s social-impact nonprofit organization based in Dallas. It was born out of the inspiration from a group of young women who, together, found a passion for inspiring and empowering other girls and women to recognize their value and their potential. The mission is to celebrate their inner beauty, commit to kindness and contribute to meaningful change in the world.

“We have found that yoga helps participants’ breath awareness and mindfulness thus regulating and calming difficult emotions rather than repressing them through compulsive behaviors,” stated Melody Moore, Ph.D., RYT, and the nonprofit’s founder, in a press release. “Yoga also helps participates rediscover a sense of joy in their bodies and self-acceptance.”

Organizers hope girls and women will stop comparing themselves to others and to ideals of external beauty. They want them to be curious about themselves and how each can contribute to the world.

The fundraiser began as a yoga practice in Dallas, and its inspired other events nationwide. More than 100 people are expected to attend tomorrow’s event.

Participants are encouraged to raise or donate $50 to attend the event. Classes will be taught by Alex Gandy, Dr. Tiffany Denny, Dr. Melody Moore and Christi Jiannino. Live music will be provided by Bhakti Band. Gift bags will be given to all participants and each will include a One Love Fits All tank top and other gifts.

For more information, go to http://embodylovemovement.org/fundraisers/one-love-fits-all/one-love-fits-all-dallas/or email info@embodylovemovement.org.

Dallas real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist Gene E. Phillips offered his private plane for a humanitarian flight to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands recently. St. Thomas was damaged by Category 5 Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.

The flight was the first nonmilitary large aircraft to land on the island since before the storm, a press release stated. The final 300-mile approach to the island was made without air traffic control assistance.

“Once we received notice that the flight was approved, we had 72 hours to coordinate donation items to fill the plane,” stated Don Phillips, brother of Gene Phillips, in a press release. “I enlisted the help of a few coworkers, and by Monday night we had 10,000 pounds of cargo.”

Michael Garrett, is the CEO and founder of Trusted World. His response and turnaround time was less than 24 hours; his organization donated pallets of baby items, cleaning supplies, general hygiene products, flashlights and batteries.

The Hart family of Arlington and the Dwyer family of Dallas also provided a truck full of water and food. Three firefighters helped unload the plane at St. Thomas’s Cyril E. King Airport.

“They were shocked at the amount of useful items that we had carried in, and commented on how much thought had gone into what was sent,” stated Joanna McDonald, a flight attendant, in the release. “While unloading, we learned that the firefighters didn’t have much of what they needed either. They didn’t even have toothpaste. There was much excitement and a couple of tears when we shared some of the necessities with them and pulled any extra cokes and snacks off of the plane for them to have.”

In total, the effort was able to bring 21 people from St. Thomas to Atlanta and Dallas. Several passengers were in St. Thomas after Hurricane Irma to help with infrastructure repairs, insurance claim assistance, and general relief when they got stranded due to Hurricane Maria. The other passengers were all St. Thomas residents who lost everything in the storm and were leaving to live with relatives. One special passenger needed immediate evacuation to be able to continue her much needed medical treatments.

“I was happy to lend my resources to get much needed donations to the people of St. Thomas,” stated Gene Phillips. “We were also approved to help people leave the island. Our ability to transport people otherwise unable to leave was such an honor. St. Thomas and its residents still need so much relief and support.”

Operation Kindness is helping keep animals’ bellies full. North Texas’ original and largest no-kill animal care and adoption center is feeding pets across the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the recent launch of the Operation Kindness Pet Food Pantry. The pantry is designed to lower the number of pets surrendered to shelters by providing temporary free cat and dog food to qualified low-income families.

“Economic reasons account for 25 percent of the pets surrendered per year, and our goal is to lower that,” stated Jim Hanophy, CEO of Carrollton-based Operation Kindness, in a press release. “Our vision is a world where all cats and dogs have loving, responsible, forever homes and this pantry is going to help keep pets out of shelters and in their homes.”

It provides free pet food, as well as cat litter and flea and tick prevention for up to three months to owners with a clear financial need. Pet owners seeking assistance may apply online, once qualified they will be able to pick up pet food at the Operation Kindness Shelter on the third Saturday and second Wednesday of every month between the hours of noon and 3 p.m. In addition, Operation Kindness is working with partners across the community to establish more distribution locations.

The Operation Kindness Pet Food Pantry is taking over for the North Texas Pet Food Pantry, to fulfill the growing needs of the community.

“I’m so honored that the hard work and effort that went into the North Texas Pet Food Pantry will be sustained by Operation Kindness,” stated Cheryl Spencer, president and founder of the North Texas Pet Food Pantry. “This pet food pantry is such a vital part of the community and I’m grateful that it will be continued on.”

For more information about the Operation Kindness Pet Food Pantry, please visit www.operationkindness.org.

Dallas Arboretum opened A Tasteful Place, a year-round destination and garden designed to mirror an ornamental kitchen garden or “potager” as it is called by the French. The 3.5-acre addition, is comprised of artfully arranged features, including a pavilion with event space and a teaching kitchen, an orchard, beds of ornamental display vegetables, herbs and flowers and a lagoon.

It will offer garden activities, including cooking classes, demonstrations, garden-to-table dinners, daily tastings, a hillside for picnicking and educational opportunities, where it will teach where food is grown, a press release stated.

The $12 million display garden was inspired by the movement toward growing and eating sustainable fresh, locally grown food.

For more information, go to http://www.dallasarboretum.org.