A volunteer walked into Debbie Batson’s office with a tragic story: A nine-year-old boy had fallen to his death from a moving truck. The family was using what little money it had to pay for the funeral. Could a family friend pick up some food to help them out?
“Of course,” said Batson, the center’s executive director.
The White Rock Center of Hope, 9353 Garland Road (324-8996), helps families in need every day. Last year, food valued at $110,000 was distributed to clients – equivalent to giving away about one ton of food.
The center was opened in 1988 by individuals frustrated that their churches could not provide for the many people who walked in off the street asking for food.
“Sometimes, the secretaries would take money from their own purses to give to these people because they didn’t know where to send them,” Batson said.
The center’s opening was facilitated by Casa Linda Presbyterian Church (now Colonial Presbyterian Church), which offered rent-free offices in its building for the center’s headquarters. Twenty-one area churches of different faiths helped the center get started; 30 churches, the North Texas Food Bank and individuals now provide regular support for the center, which has an annual budget of $70,000.
Its mission is to “meet neighborhood needs, through community sharing, by offering help and hope to those in need in the 75214, 75218 and 75228 zip codes”. Help is offered on an emergency basis, and clients requiring long term aid are referred to government programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, food stamps and Supplemental Security Income.
Most requests are for food, but the center helps in other ways, such as providing clothing and job counseling. The center also has limited funds to help pay for rent, utilities, prescriptions, gasoline and bus fare. Money is provided to families who are trying to help themselves.
One client needed money to pay for a tuberculosis test, which he needed to be hired as a waiter. Another needed money to tow her car to a repair shop; she needed the car to keep her job. Two weeks later, she returned to reimburse the center for the $40 towing fee.
Although the center helps about 300 families monthly, most clients are first-time visitors. The majority are single parents, but the center helps “traditional” families as well.
In many cases, “dad’s been laid off, mom doesn’t work, and all that’s available is a job at McDonald’s,” which isn’t enough to support a family, Batson said.
Batson and a janitor are the only fulltime employees, so the center’s 200 volunteers answer phones, sort clothing and stock the food pantry. They also “interview” families, offering tips on budgeting and career possibilities.
Anne Boecher, a volunteer since the center’s opening, recalls counseling a single mother with three children.
“She was 20 years old, didn’t know where the children’s fathers were, but felt she didn’t want to work until the youngest child was six months old. I told her I didn’t think she could afford the luxury of not working.”
The center provided the young woman with incentive to follow Boecher’s advice: A three-day supply of food is made available every two weeks if a client has applied for food stamps or follows an interviewer’s recommendations.
“I see people we have helped when I’m at a grocery store, or out taking a walk,” said Batson, an East Dallas resident. These encounters bring the issue of poverty “close to home”.
Tough economic times have increased the center’s workload: Clients often include laid-off, white-collar workers and elderly people too embarrassed to ask friends, family or their own churches for help, Batson said.
“Prior to opening of the center,” said Rev. Kevin Club of Lakeside Baptist Church, “no organization existed (in the area) specifically to meet the needs of people who’ve fallen on hard times. The White Rock Center of Hope has filled the gap.”
