Staff Serves Lunch at Largest Homeless Facility in North Texas
Poverty doesn’t discriminate. Anyone can be affected by it regardless of background, age, or social standing. Each year, Western Healthcare chooses two organizations in the Dallas, Texas area to volunteer at onsite. While we enjoy working with animals like the cats and dogs at Operation Kindness, racing hounds at Greyhound Adoption League of Texas, or therapy horses at Equest, there is something incredibly fulfilling and touching about lending a hand to families in need.
Western Healthcare had the opportunity to cook and serve lunch to the residents of Dallas LIFE Homeless Recovery Center, the largest homeless recovery center in North Texas. Our team prepared a full meal complete with scratch chicken and vegetable soup, biscuits, salad, and dessert. To start, the team sorted and labeled crates of food donated to Dallas LIFE, stocked the food across the kitchen, and began cooking each part of the meal as a team. Once the meal was ready, our team members split up to prepare the food service station. Finally, as residents trickled into the cafeteria to await their meal, our team created an assembly line to plate and serve the meals to men, women, and children. Thanks to the contributions of Western Healthcare, the Dallas LIFE Food Service Director, and other Dallas LIFE staff members, approximately 70 residents were fed.
Pamela Culbertson, Dallas LIFE Director of Volunteers, says it was apparent Western Healthcare came ready to serve.
“Thank you for partnering with Dallas LIFE. Your energy was high and everyone came ready to help,” she said. “Your group helped meet a very basic need as you served lunch, and extended a greeting to each person to whom a tray of food or cup of water was given. Thank you for greeting the residents, serving the meal, prepping for upcoming meals, and helping with clean-up. Our Food Service Director said, ‘I sure hope they will come back. Western was a joy to work with!” said Pamela.
More About Dallas LIFE
Dallas Rescue Mission (as previously named) opened its doors in 1954 just a few blocks from the city jail and housed 25 men each night. There, Reverend Robert J. Key ministered the men, and provided shelter and a hot meal. In the early 1980s, the facility was expanded to house 25 women and children. It became known as a lighthouse of Christian love, Bible teaching, and offered addiction recovery and job training to help its residents experience total life restoration.
By 1981 the Mission had become much more than a shelter – it was also a church, school, and recovery center. Appropriately, the Board of Trustees voted in 1981 to officially change the name to Dallas LIFE.
In 1983, Dallas LIFE moved to the former Koone-McNatt Warehouse on Cadiz Street, where it could house significantly more residents than ever before – up to 500 per night. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Dallas LIFE continued to grow, adding a computer school and GED education. Long-term programs were developed for senior citizens and those with slight mental illness issues.
In 2005, Rev. Bob Sweeney developed and implemented the 10-month Homeless No More Program, which produces around 50 “graduates” each year who are recovered from addiction, restored with family members, and have jobs and housing. Rev. Sweeney’s healthy balance of accountability and compassion challenges each resident to settle for nothing less than a self-sufficient life – and to find joy in the journey.
Now a fully thriving independent non-profit organization with a richly blessed history, Dallas LIFE is help and hope for all those we serve.
Dallas LIFE mission statement:
- Dallas LIFE is a place where homeless men, women and children can receive help and hope during their time of need.
- Dallas LIFE is a path to recovery and self-sufficient living.
- Dallas LIFE is a promise that there is a way to begin again.
How to Volunteer at Dallas LIFE
To learn more about volunteering and how you can make a different on the Dallas LIFE residents, email Pamela Culbertson at [email protected].
